Sword Art Online II – 11
…It’s probably a good thing that Asuna stopped watching.
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Ahaha I got another dialogue heavy episode. Though the plot made a lot of progress, so I’m not complaining at all. |
As if Shino wasn’t traumatized enough already, now there’s some creepy person watching her sleep and waiting to kill her. Man, MMORPGS seem fun in the future. Based on her reaction to finding this out, either the conversation in the last episode totally changed Sinon’s opinion on dying alone, or she was just putting up a front. Maybe a bit of both. Though the important thing to take away here is that she clearly doesn’t want to die now. Also, she seems to have also gotten over her self doubts after sharing a moment with Kirito about murder in the last episode, but really, I’m sure we all saw this coming the moment Kirito started angsting about his memories with Laughing Coffin.
Maybe she’ll have a defining moment in the upcoming battle where she fully accepts everything in an internal monologue, but this issue should probably be marked as “solved”. Overall though, this will be a good thing. Sinon has always come off as a character who’s cool with great self control in times of crisis. If this can carry over to Shino in real life, she’ll be better off for it.
Let’s talk about DAT PLOT.
On to the rest of the conversation about how Death Gun operates. It wasn’t a Death Note. Damn it. I took a course on deconstructing detective fiction last year (because the road to a BA is full of lessons you’re never going to actually use in real life), and we spent a good couple of classes going over how deductive reasoning seems like it’s ingenious, but it’s actually full of holes that you don’t even notice because you’re too taken with how awesome the protagonist is for figuring these things out. The explanation behind Death Gun was a lot like this. Surely there could have been other explanations to things (or maybe there could be something like three Death Guns), but since Kirito came up with this answer, it must be true, so there’s no use thinking any more about this. This is fine though, because this is pretty much how SAO has always worked. Kirito is always right. Between figuring this out and kind of working out Sinon’s issues, this was actually a pretty productive conversation.
Your weekly reminder that these people still exist. Kind of.
The other half of the episode… kind of felt like a waste of time. Didn’t we already establish the exact same information in one of the beginning episodes? Is it really necessary to go over the same information? I guess this way, we got to see how the side characters (who have admittedly been kind of forgotten by this point) react to Kirito’s daring adventures. Plus Asuna got to act like the best waifu ever again, and she’s probably going to head over to the hospital to look after Kirito’s unconscious body while he gets rather personal with Sinon, apparently. Who knows, maybe she might even manage to save him from some creepy person trying to kill him by injection, somehow telepathically support him against the upcoming battle, or something while there. If she accomplishes something like that, it might make this entire conversation worthwhile. Asuna really hasn’t done much this season.
Well, at least things were accomplished in the beginning of the episode. It makes the second, recap half seem better since things are still managing to move forward. …Man, there were a lot of shots of Sinon’s ass this episode. SAO has always taken the “male gaze” approach, but it was kind of distracting this episode, considering that there was pretty serious dialogue going on behind everything. But I guess it made things more visually interesting…? The other visuals going on were pretty heavy handed. Almost painfully so (“It has two tails?! GASP! There must be two Death Guns!!!!“). …Maybe that worked better in the novel (Kirito’s realizations, not Sinon’s ass) if they still used a lizard thing, but it just seemed to be a bit too much here. Especially with that scorpion at the end while they were explaining the method of murder. …And then the less eventful conversation just had everyone standing around and staring at each other. Oh well, maybe they’re saving the budget for whatever epic gun (…or sword) battle is going to happen in the next episode.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I have heard of some sao doujinshis that don’t just exactly have a creepy guy watching over your unconscious physical body but doing well… um… *things*
And I though elf-Asuna became a sex-slave last time round?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The second half of last season, her mind was held captive in ALfheim Online but she wasn’t a sex slave.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
There was a fair bit more discussion in the novel to help Kirito and Sinon figure out how Death Gun’s been doing what he’s been doing. It seems someone decided to cut down on exposition and have Kirito make questionable deductive leaps instead.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, good for his sake. In the gaming world, Kirito and Asuna are practically married so if she ever saw him and Sinon, she’d surely ring his neck for infidelity. But that wouldn’t be the case because she isn’t the jealous type and is totally devoted so she won’t accept such thoughts that easily.
Dialogue heavy scenarios can pass as long as it is compelling and there is a point to be made at the end and it delivered here.
I’d say it certainly wasn’t a front because it was a matter she made her mind up about. At beginning, it was all from her perspective until she lets someone else’ in and got shaken up by it.
If Kirito isn’t OP with offensive skills at one point, it’s powers of deduction with another. Two Death Guns working hand in hand with their killings, giving signals to each other for confirmations. That’s a lot of speculation with his theories. A long shot, in fact, but for the sake of the show’s convenience, odds are that all of it is true. Saying they will eventually be caught, this will be sufficient to tell all hardcore gamers to make sure their place is secure before logging in. Because once that happens, they’re sitting ducks without means of resistance. This is one reason I’d be reluctant to play any games where using a virtual reality helmet becomes necessary.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I thought it was hilarious that the ‘camera’ looked like a roomba. And I gotta think that Asuna’s so used to Kirito’s milkshake bringing all the girls to the yard that another one’s not going to faze her.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Those words… Is it possible to use them together in a complete sentence like that? 😀
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…it’s been done twice so far…
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
can i just say something about the fact that there’s someone above Sinnon’s bed watching her unconscious body…That’s some creepy “thing” right there!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
It’s like something out of a lower grade horror movie/thriller.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I do have to say that the conclusion they came up with is a hell of a lot less interesting than it would have been if Death Gun actually could kill people through the game. Then it would have been “Brilliant psychopathic stalker reign of terror” rather than “group of murdering losers come up with coordinated but boring plan to kill people off.” The fact of this being found out also kind of takes a bit of the limit off. If the Death Gun accomplice is in Sinon’s apartment, and he learns that he’s been found out, he might as well go ahead and kill her. Same thing when (not if, because this show never works that way) he gets into Kirito’s hospital room. Why hang around when in-game Death Gun is fighting Kirito? Just off him. Unless you’re going to tell me there’s some stupid honor code among murdering PKers? Riiiiight.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…it falls under the “I’m going to kill you now!” school of evulz…Drama things.