Sword Art Online "Beater" Review

"He's a beta tester and a cheater! He's a Beater!"

FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD

Eh, Kirito likes it, but, it's kinda lame to me. At least it's unique to him.

Welcome to the second episode, where it has been two months since the game "Sword Art Online" began. Two thousand players have died, and nobody has cleared the first floor. The premise of the episode is the big battle against the Floor 1 boss, and it's pretty cool to see the origins of what will become the guild system for the game. It's the first boss-party we see for the entire show, too, so in that it's interesting to compare what it is now to what it evolves into.


I suppose I should discuss the opening of the show, since it's now at the beginning of the episode instead of the end like last time's. I love the opening, from the the theme to the visuals. It mostly focuses on Kirito and Asuna, one of the characters introduced today, and how they will eventually interact. The only thing about the opening that bothers me slightly is how misleading it is, but I'll get to that eventually.

The theme, "crossing field" by Lisa, is a great opening theme. It's got the perfect amount of build-up that results in a great bunch of action. A singer on YouTube did a cover of it, and I actually prefer it more. Check it out here if you want. You won't be disappointed.

Alright, great opening, so, what's going down now? Well, a player named Diabel (I think I'm spelling that right, who knows?) has summoned some of the strongest players in the game to a Colosseum to discuss their raid on the boss room--so for those unaware, he's gathered a bunch of people to take on the big bad guy of that floor.

Despite some mockery, he manages to convince everyone to join in on the raid, and then has everyone split into groups of six. Kirito is left out, but meets Asuna there, who decided to stay out of any party, and the two form a small party. Before they can begin preparation, another player whose name I can't even dream to spell out, shows up. This guy reminds me, for some reason, of Naruto if Naruto were much more annoying and whiny. And he somewhat sounds like him in the English Dub. Anyway, Not-Naruto jumps in, interrupting the meeting, and orders for all the Beta-testers to turn themselves in, since he believes they are responsible for the stagnant nature of all the players.

Which is of course absolute crap. This is a videogame, dude. Sure, some people are going to listen to what others have to say, but there are also a ton of people like Not-Naruto who are too stubborn to listen to others and take the advice of others.

Thankfully, a humongous player named Agil steps in. He reminds Not-Naruto of a guidebook that the stores were giving out, and that the guide-book was created by the former Beta-testers. Diabel takes it a step further in revealing that the book has all the info on the boss they need.

Now, I'm not too savvy with massive online videogames, but, I don't think they have guidebooks. Then again, I can't really stretch that disbelief too far considering how I'm watching a show now seven years in the future, but still. I mean, I know some games have intro guides to teach players how to...uh, play...but not an entire guidebook on how to defeat bosses and what not. It's just a little something that's curious to me, but if it's a real thing, then more power to them.

I do wish we'd see more of the Beta-testers rather than just Kirito and Agil so far. A tenth of the entire human population of SAO were Beta-testers, and you'd think that the meeting of the strongest players in the game would comprise of a few more Beta-testers. Maybe not all of them are as nice or quiet as Kirito and Agil, who knows? We do eventually see more, but, that's not for a while.

That night, everyone in the party is gathered near a tavern except for Kirito and Asuna, who stay away from the populace to eat. There, Kirito shows Asuna a trick he has to make cream and put it on the bread, surprising Asuna. Asuna, however, tells Kirito she is not in the game for the luxuries, but she is there to beat it, to defeat the world she is stuck in and survive.

This isn't anything spectacular, but, I guess it's interesting to note that we have yet to see what Asuna looks like. Outside of the opening, of course, but still. It puts an air of mystery around the character. Her vague statement of wanting to beat the game, beat the world with all the odds stacked against her, shows that she has a strong character hidden beneath that cloak that is waiting to be unleashed. It's sort of like how Kirito feels, but he keeps his feelings tight underneath a calm demeanor. We have yet to see what this Asuna girl is all about, and if she can really live up to her desires.

The next morning, the big party sets out for the boss-room. Kirito teaches Asuna the concept of switching in and out of battle, which is basically just an in-game mechanic that forces players in and out of the action, and often the degree in which is succeeds depends on the timing of the two players.

They arrive in the boss-room and begin their assault, Kirito and Asuna staying in the rear-guard to deal with the boss's higher-leveled minions. Diabel, meanwhile, serves as a general for the various squads.

Asuna shines as she defeats one of the minions single-handedly, her movements so fast Kirito can barely keep up with her. The boss, severely weakened, changes its weapons. To the horror of Kirito, though, it is not the same weapon, thus not the same technique, as the Beta test. Diabel charges in anyway, and is killed. Kirito tries to heal him, and Diabel refuses the healing object, revealing he was a Beta tester that wanted the bonus of killing the boss. Right before he dies, he orders Kirito to defeat the boss, since he is one of the few capable of doing so.

Kirito reflects on how he and Diabel were pretty much opposites, since Kirito tries to remain alone while Diabel took control of all the players and rallied them around him. With Asuna, inspired by Diabel, Kirito makes his attack on the boss.

Together, they show off a pretty impressive stream of combos to weaken the boss, or at least fight it off. It makes sense that they aren't able to do as much damage as before, anyway, given as how nobody knows what the boss is going to be like and so it's like fighting it all over again for the first time. And, since this game tends to up the difficulty, of course killing it in one stroke isn't going to get the job done right away.

Asuna's cloak is destroyed, revealing her to Kirito--which of course he sees her as beautiful--but that does not distract him from continuing his assault. A mis-timed attack, though, forces the two back, and if not for the timely intervention of Agil, the two would have been sliced in two. Agil promises to help hold the boss off while Kirito and Asuna heal back up.

Kirito manages to return the favor, and with Asuna destroys the boss in, again, a very impressive fashion. For their first fight, they easily display great timing and incredible strength, as Kirito is able to blast the thing back with a powerful sword swing. It also doesn't underplay the amazing strength of the boss that would have led to the deaths of two thousand players, even if it wasn't directly because of the boss. Even a beta-tester like Diabel fell to him.

But, the moment is ruined as Not-Naruto blames Kirito for Diabel's death, since Kirito seemed to know that the technique the boss was using was different. This whole moment, where Not-Naruto blames Kirito, is pretty darn stupid. I mean, I get why it happens, but it just frustrates me. No duh Kirito was surprised by it, everyone was. Had they predicted it, a Beta-tester like Diabel would have reacted to the situation. Of course, now everyone tries to call out the Beta-testers just like before, and this time, Kirito does make a stand, but different from what he would have made earlier. He worries that there will be a big brawl between the Beta-testers and the regular players.

Thus, he puts on a pretty-wise act of indeed being a Beta-tester as well as a cheater, one who withholds information from everyone. To really add to the gloom and doom, he dons the black "Cloak of Midnight." Luckily, his act manages to convince all the other players, with the exception of Asuna and Agil, and he manages to take all of the heat off the Beta-testers and throws it all on him, earning himself a rather negative reputation.

Before leaving, Kirito tells Asuna that she will become very powerful if she joins a guild, that there are limits to what solo players like him can do, thus ending the episode.

Kirito's ploy at being a "Beater" is a standout moment of the episode and shows that he has taken what Diabel was like into a new light, but for the same purpose. It was a clever trick, and act, even if it sacrificed his reputation for the rest of the game with some of the players there who would advance into important players within the guilds.

This episode also gives us a slight look into how Kirito is as a character. He does indeed care about others, since he shows some sincerity toward Asuna, but he does not want to put people in direct danger, like he might have with Klein, and pretty much did with Diabel. Not only that, but we saw a very powerful player in Asuna, who does indeed have the potential to evolve into an even stronger player with the guilds.

Next episode, we get a very, very sad episode of SAO with "The Red Nosed Reindeer." Get your tissues set.