"Come save me, but don't look!"
"That'll be...difficult"
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Today we get the most fun episode of Sword Art Online we've come across yet as it's really nothing more than a lighthearted adventure. We sort of stray away from the gloom and doom of the death game and instead focus on some of the more hopeful elements in it. I mean, sure, there's one aspect where we see some Player-Killers, which I shall refer to PKers, but it's brief and toward the end, and does not take away from the purpose of the episode.
We also get introduced to a fun, new character that Kirito is often shipped with on sites like Tumblr. I don't see it, but, whatever. That's on you. She's probably the one that brings along the light-hearted element, since she is very sweet and innocent. I mean, almost anything can happy that will uplift us from the pretty bad events of last episode.
So how does this episode begin? Well, we start by meeting this new character, Silica a beast tamer. Another older player bugs her about using healing crystals and something stupid like that--she's just being a jerk because Silica is "more popular"--and Silica storms off into the forest, despite some other members of the group urging her to stay. And might I just say that the episode does a good job of making our clear antagonist very annoying. I mean, she's not only mean, but rather cliched. She makes fun of Silica while twirling her hair, how much more do you need out of that?
Silica's journey takes a turn for the worst, though, as she is surrounded by giant monsters and is fighting a losing battle. Her small dragon-pet, Pina, gets struck down during the battle while trying to save Silica, and dies. It begs the question of whether or not NPCs (non-player characters) are vanquished from the game once they die, but it's also something that's never really brought up again, so it's no big deal. In a regular game, sure, it would suck to lose your NPC partner, but in a game where life and death is a legit thing, I guess even losing an NPC, something that has no real emotion and is just a bunch of 0s and 1s can hurt a little. It'd be like losing a real pet. Plus, Pina displayed a bond with Silica that you don't really see. Certainly an interesting duo.
Too stunned and saddened to do anything, Silica prepares for the killing blow but Kirito arrives and easily hacks down the three monsters. Silica still weeps over Pina, but Kirito reassures her by saying there's an item a few floors away that can resurrect Pina in three-days time. He even agrees to take her, since apparently Silica reminds him of his little sister. Which is odd considering what will come eventually but, whatever, it's a nice excuse to have some company I guess. Then again, Silica is way under-leveled and Kirito is looking out for her, even giving her some equipment to boost her level so she stands a chance against the monsters on the floor. So, I suppose he's just doing his good-deed for the day. We know he's not a bad person, even if he does seclude himself, and this is just another good example of that.
Really my biggest question regarding Silica is how old this girl is? It's hardly addressed and she acts like a little girl, but what's a little doing in this game? I mean, I do know how old she is, but old she was when she starts the game is a good question.
The jerk from before arrives and tries to bug Silica, but Kirito gets them out of there. Kirito reveals that she's pretty much nothing but a troll, and then explains the icon-system, in which players with a green icon are good, orange players are sketchy, and red players are flat out PKers. During their dinner, Silica realizes she has slight feelings for Kirito despite only just meeting him. Again, makes you wonder how old she is to be thinking like that.
Also, again: that jerk from before is just such a jerk. She literally has no reason to be busting on Silica, and even claims that Silica seduced Kirito. What? Has this happened before? Probably not. See kids, this is what jealousy does to you. Turns you into an evil person who twirls their hair and makes snarky remarks at people. Lame.
That night, Silica and Kirito meet to discuss some of the groundwork of Floor 47, but Kirito realizes they were being spied upon. They deduce that whoever the spy was had a high listening skill so they may take advantage of the two and follow them to Floor 47, and the Hill of Memories when they get there.
And indeed the do make it there. Apparently, the whole entire floor is covered in flowers, making for a very colorful display. The rest of the episode, basically, while the two traverse the floor, is where we get most of our light-hearted elements. We get our largest taste of the nice and soothing village music of Sword Art Online, which is every bit as good as the intense, epic music that often plays. This is also the most colorful and bright episode visually of the bunch so far, seeing as how the first one was visually stunning but a large chunk of it took place under a red barrier. The second episode was at night and in a dungeon, and the third episode was just depressing and in the snow.
This one, to contrast it would seem, is more of a spring feeling. Obviously, it's symbolic of renewal, or revival (since they are there to revive Pina), and I really like it. Like I said earlier, it's nice to get away from the whole death aspect of the game and just focus on the fun aspect of it.
While they walk, Kirito reveals the history between him and his sister...in that she is not really his sister, but rather his cousin. They were raised together like brother and sister, and he says that she does not know their true relation, which is maybe part of the reason why he stopped avoiding her, to lessen the pain between them for when she finds out. Their grandfather treated Kirito abusively when Kirito decided to stop taking sword Kendo classes, and then his sister stepped up for him. Kirito blames himself for putting her through it, but Silica tells him its not his fault and that she might even like Kendo, since she is doing her best for him.
The back-story here for Kirito is interesting and doesn't completely come out of left field. Yeah, it's a little odd, but at least there's a connection to the episode since he said Silica is reminiscent of his little sister. I can't really think of anywhere else it would, or could, be put in within the story and so it's pretty good that it was put here. And, there's little time for it as is, so adding it as another story component was clever. Plus, at least it keeps them busy while on the walk and we're not just watching them silently walk through to the Hill of Memories.
They make it to the revival item, and decide to use it later when they back to town so they can avoid all the nearby monsters. However, the jerk-lady, named Rosalia, appears, and her backstory is finally revealed as well: she is the leader of a guild known as Titan's Hand, a PK Guild. She manipulates other players into doing the killings for her so that her cursor may remain green and she can stay in good footing with other guilds. She was even going to manipulate Silica into joining the guild.
Kirito, to counter her, says that he has actually been looking for Rosalia for ten days, since the leader asked him to bring her to prison. She comes up with the bogus argument that if you kill someone in game, there's no proof they're dead in real life.
What the heck are you talking about? You are stuck in a video game. The creator of the game warned you TWICE that you will die if your HP hits zero and you probably have not seen players resurrect. You are a troll and an idiot, Rosalia. Go away.
Seriously, it's such a stupid argument for killing people. I know there are some people out there in videogames who do it for, I guess, the rush or to take all their stuff, and that's fine. In a fake game. But it has been established that this is a death game, that there is no coming back, and if you are killed you get your brain fried. Killing people in SAO is equivalent to killing people in real life, and it would seem this girl is too stupid to notice that, even though she has people do it for her.
An ambush is launched on Kirito, who is called "the black swordsman" by his reputation of being in black and only using a single blade without a shield. They seem to be doing no damage to him. He reveals that his great health and regeneration abilities are keeping them from killing him, and that they will never make a real dent in his health. And hey, we even find out he's been working with the assault team, but on his own terms.
Ultimately, he brings them all to the prison, then tells Silica he was using her to lure out Rosalia, but Silica doesn't see him in a bad light, instead thanking him for all that he's done and is sad to see him go. They promise to see each other in the real world, and when they revive Pina, Silica silently remarks that this was a great day for her, since she got to have her own big brother, ending the episode.
Yet another great episode and this one has a person swelling up not because of sadness or anything, but because of happiness. Silica makes you feel great throughout the episode, Kirito gets to show off how awesome he is by holding off the ambush and threatening Rosalia, and the ending is heartwarming enough to leave you smiling brightly. Does it advance the greater plot of finishing the game? No. Is it a fun side-story? Heck yeah. It's one of the things that make this show great: having little episodes to the side with very memorable characters and moments.
Silica, as a character, is definitely one of the most fun of the ones Kirito meets and it really is sad to see her go. But, at least it all ended on a good note for her.
Tomorrow, we reunite with Asuna to figure out the grand mystery at work in how a player was killed where it is impossible, within the rules of the game, for this to happen in "Murder in the Safe Zone."
So how does this episode begin? Well, we start by meeting this new character, Silica a beast tamer. Another older player bugs her about using healing crystals and something stupid like that--she's just being a jerk because Silica is "more popular"--and Silica storms off into the forest, despite some other members of the group urging her to stay. And might I just say that the episode does a good job of making our clear antagonist very annoying. I mean, she's not only mean, but rather cliched. She makes fun of Silica while twirling her hair, how much more do you need out of that?
Silica's journey takes a turn for the worst, though, as she is surrounded by giant monsters and is fighting a losing battle. Her small dragon-pet, Pina, gets struck down during the battle while trying to save Silica, and dies. It begs the question of whether or not NPCs (non-player characters) are vanquished from the game once they die, but it's also something that's never really brought up again, so it's no big deal. In a regular game, sure, it would suck to lose your NPC partner, but in a game where life and death is a legit thing, I guess even losing an NPC, something that has no real emotion and is just a bunch of 0s and 1s can hurt a little. It'd be like losing a real pet. Plus, Pina displayed a bond with Silica that you don't really see. Certainly an interesting duo.
Too stunned and saddened to do anything, Silica prepares for the killing blow but Kirito arrives and easily hacks down the three monsters. Silica still weeps over Pina, but Kirito reassures her by saying there's an item a few floors away that can resurrect Pina in three-days time. He even agrees to take her, since apparently Silica reminds him of his little sister. Which is odd considering what will come eventually but, whatever, it's a nice excuse to have some company I guess. Then again, Silica is way under-leveled and Kirito is looking out for her, even giving her some equipment to boost her level so she stands a chance against the monsters on the floor. So, I suppose he's just doing his good-deed for the day. We know he's not a bad person, even if he does seclude himself, and this is just another good example of that.
Really my biggest question regarding Silica is how old this girl is? It's hardly addressed and she acts like a little girl, but what's a little doing in this game? I mean, I do know how old she is, but old she was when she starts the game is a good question.
The jerk from before arrives and tries to bug Silica, but Kirito gets them out of there. Kirito reveals that she's pretty much nothing but a troll, and then explains the icon-system, in which players with a green icon are good, orange players are sketchy, and red players are flat out PKers. During their dinner, Silica realizes she has slight feelings for Kirito despite only just meeting him. Again, makes you wonder how old she is to be thinking like that.
Also, again: that jerk from before is just such a jerk. She literally has no reason to be busting on Silica, and even claims that Silica seduced Kirito. What? Has this happened before? Probably not. See kids, this is what jealousy does to you. Turns you into an evil person who twirls their hair and makes snarky remarks at people. Lame.
That night, Silica and Kirito meet to discuss some of the groundwork of Floor 47, but Kirito realizes they were being spied upon. They deduce that whoever the spy was had a high listening skill so they may take advantage of the two and follow them to Floor 47, and the Hill of Memories when they get there.
And indeed the do make it there. Apparently, the whole entire floor is covered in flowers, making for a very colorful display. The rest of the episode, basically, while the two traverse the floor, is where we get most of our light-hearted elements. We get our largest taste of the nice and soothing village music of Sword Art Online, which is every bit as good as the intense, epic music that often plays. This is also the most colorful and bright episode visually of the bunch so far, seeing as how the first one was visually stunning but a large chunk of it took place under a red barrier. The second episode was at night and in a dungeon, and the third episode was just depressing and in the snow.
This one, to contrast it would seem, is more of a spring feeling. Obviously, it's symbolic of renewal, or revival (since they are there to revive Pina), and I really like it. Like I said earlier, it's nice to get away from the whole death aspect of the game and just focus on the fun aspect of it.
While they walk, Kirito reveals the history between him and his sister...in that she is not really his sister, but rather his cousin. They were raised together like brother and sister, and he says that she does not know their true relation, which is maybe part of the reason why he stopped avoiding her, to lessen the pain between them for when she finds out. Their grandfather treated Kirito abusively when Kirito decided to stop taking sword Kendo classes, and then his sister stepped up for him. Kirito blames himself for putting her through it, but Silica tells him its not his fault and that she might even like Kendo, since she is doing her best for him.
The back-story here for Kirito is interesting and doesn't completely come out of left field. Yeah, it's a little odd, but at least there's a connection to the episode since he said Silica is reminiscent of his little sister. I can't really think of anywhere else it would, or could, be put in within the story and so it's pretty good that it was put here. And, there's little time for it as is, so adding it as another story component was clever. Plus, at least it keeps them busy while on the walk and we're not just watching them silently walk through to the Hill of Memories.
They make it to the revival item, and decide to use it later when they back to town so they can avoid all the nearby monsters. However, the jerk-lady, named Rosalia, appears, and her backstory is finally revealed as well: she is the leader of a guild known as Titan's Hand, a PK Guild. She manipulates other players into doing the killings for her so that her cursor may remain green and she can stay in good footing with other guilds. She was even going to manipulate Silica into joining the guild.
Kirito, to counter her, says that he has actually been looking for Rosalia for ten days, since the leader asked him to bring her to prison. She comes up with the bogus argument that if you kill someone in game, there's no proof they're dead in real life.
What the heck are you talking about? You are stuck in a video game. The creator of the game warned you TWICE that you will die if your HP hits zero and you probably have not seen players resurrect. You are a troll and an idiot, Rosalia. Go away.
Seriously, it's such a stupid argument for killing people. I know there are some people out there in videogames who do it for, I guess, the rush or to take all their stuff, and that's fine. In a fake game. But it has been established that this is a death game, that there is no coming back, and if you are killed you get your brain fried. Killing people in SAO is equivalent to killing people in real life, and it would seem this girl is too stupid to notice that, even though she has people do it for her.
An ambush is launched on Kirito, who is called "the black swordsman" by his reputation of being in black and only using a single blade without a shield. They seem to be doing no damage to him. He reveals that his great health and regeneration abilities are keeping them from killing him, and that they will never make a real dent in his health. And hey, we even find out he's been working with the assault team, but on his own terms.
Ultimately, he brings them all to the prison, then tells Silica he was using her to lure out Rosalia, but Silica doesn't see him in a bad light, instead thanking him for all that he's done and is sad to see him go. They promise to see each other in the real world, and when they revive Pina, Silica silently remarks that this was a great day for her, since she got to have her own big brother, ending the episode.
Yet another great episode and this one has a person swelling up not because of sadness or anything, but because of happiness. Silica makes you feel great throughout the episode, Kirito gets to show off how awesome he is by holding off the ambush and threatening Rosalia, and the ending is heartwarming enough to leave you smiling brightly. Does it advance the greater plot of finishing the game? No. Is it a fun side-story? Heck yeah. It's one of the things that make this show great: having little episodes to the side with very memorable characters and moments.
Silica, as a character, is definitely one of the most fun of the ones Kirito meets and it really is sad to see her go. But, at least it all ended on a good note for her.
Tomorrow, we reunite with Asuna to figure out the grand mystery at work in how a player was killed where it is impossible, within the rules of the game, for this to happen in "Murder in the Safe Zone."
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