"I'm pretty sure if he was a spy, he wouldn't be such a ditz."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Alright, here's where things start to get a little silly/ outlandish. Unbelievable in a show about people trapped in a video game, I know, but that's how it is. The plot and characters start to become, I'll say, weird. Not Kirito or Asuna, who we also get to see again this episode, but some of the newer characters. It all spirals into some weird subplots that you can pretty easily see the show doing without.
Quite a bit is revealed to us here, such as who Leafa is, what bigger role Evil Businesman Natsu (Sugou) has planned, as well as where Asuna is. But more importantly: how can you fly without the remote?!
Well, luckily, all those questions, and more, are answered here. There's also an anti-racism theme to the episode going on here, oh boy.
The episode opens with Kirito taking down the other big dude in red armor and then calls out the other one, who declines because he doesn't want to die and lose all the progress he's made that night. Leafa thanks him and Yui pushes Leafa off, thinking she is flirting with Kirito.
Oh boy, Yui. You have no idea.
Leafa declines and doesn't question the fact that Yui keeps calling Kirito "daddy." Out of context, yes, I will agree that is kinda weird. Leafa offers to buy Kirito a drink in thanks for handling the situation and Kirito agrees, in return asking Leafa if she can tell him a little more about the World Tree, where Asuna is presumably being held. The two fly off, with Kirito learning how to fly without the remote and does so quickly because he's Kirito and he can do anything.
The two begin to fly at breakneck speeds, Kirito seriously getting the hang of it, when they arrive in Slyvain, the capital for Sylph territory. At first Leafa detested bringing Kirito though, as apparently players in opposing factions can't harm Sylphs (which is, in my opinion, horribly stupid because what's the point of territories if you can't go around and try conquering?) but they can harm opposing players, but Kirito says nah and they go anyway.
There, Kirito realizes he doesn't know how to land, and comedically crashes into a building. I'm not going to lie, most of the dialogue between Leafa and Kirito this episode is pretty funny, with Leafa taking most of Kirito's jokes seriously or her just being very nonchalant about everything. Leafa seems, for lack of a better term, pretty modern.
Jar-Jar Binks, I mean Rekon, meets up with the two, immediately going to attack Kirito simply because he's a Sprigan (racism implied). When Leafa defends Kirito, Rekon just wants to attack him because reasons (racism implied). Leafa decides to skip out on a meeting with the higher-ups of the Sylphs and instead goes to drink with Kirito.
At a local tavern, Leafa explains that the "grand quest" of ALO is to make it to the top, where Fairy King Oberon grants the race of the player who makes it brand new wings that makes them fly forever.
Basically.
Kirito, ever the politically correct, asks why all the races don't just work together to get to the top and defeat the seemingly unbeatable NPC Guardians that block the entrance? Leafa replies with what race would want to help an other out?
The anti-racism undertones do hit a little hard but they're otherwise harmless and not very effective against the rest of the plot. What this all basically turns into is essentially turf wars. There are a few moments where people look down on other's races/ classes because that's just what they are but, I mean, it's videogaming. Everyone's a jerk.
My main problem with the episode isn't even with these little tones of "everyone should love each other." It's solely based in the show, and it's a problem that the show created:
In episode fifteen when Evil Businessman Natsu meets Kazuto in the hospital, he exclaims, "You're the Kirito?" That is to say, yeah, Kirito is kind of a big deal. Which makes sense. He was the one that saved the lives of 6,000 people by defeating Akihiko Kaiyaba at his own game. He should be a world-renowned hero. Kazuto Kirigaya/ Kirito may not have to be a household name but it's one all people in the gaming community should recognize. With that in mind...
Why does nobody in ALO recognize the name Kirito?!
It's just such a huge plot hole that would solve an immense amount of problems that will rise later on in the show (that I can't touch on because spoilers for now). If Leafa were just like, "Oh, Kirito? That's the name my brother uses..." Then trust me, so many issues would be done and over with in either this episode or the next and we wouldn't have an awkward-ish episode to have to sit through toward the end, where we could have some more interesting pieces.
And there's really no explanation as to why nobody recognizes the name Kirito within ALO. Not a single player that they come across for the remainder of the season has the same exclamation as Evil Businessman Natsu and he, to our knowledge, isn't even a freaking gamer! So what the heck?
Ergh. Anyway, Kirito decides to head off to the World Tree alone but Leafa insists she go with him, and it's clear, since she's blushing, that she is developing slight feelings for him because of his fierce determination to get to the top. Leafa logs out while Kirito goes to bed upstairs, and it's here that we find that whoever plays as Leafa has a poster of Leafa in the game in her room.
Pretentious.
No, that's not the big reveal. The big reveal is that it's Suguha who is playing as Leafa, and now, UH-OH, she's developing a crush on Kirito while it's already implied she likes Kazuto and she thinks they're two different people!
But, again, let's question one, tiney, tiny, glaring plot error here. Eh-hem.
How do they not recognize each other's voices?!
This is the stupidest thing! They've been living together for how long now, six/ seven years? And you can't recognize each other's voices?! Heck, Kirito and Kazuto look exactly the same and sound exactly the same! Are their voices distorted? No? Then how come they can't register, "Oh wow, you sound just like my brother/ sister. Wait, is it you, Suguha/ Kirito?"
It is as simple as that, and it's an even much bigger problem compared to the the whole "I dunno who Kirito is I live under a rock in the year 2025" thing. There's even a point, in a later episode, where Kirito does recognize someone's voice without them revealing their name so why can't they do that right now?!
Imagine if a family member had you blind-folded and you didn't know who was in the room. You can't see them, but you can hear them. Now, if they spoke to you, would you recognize them? Yes. Good.
Then how can they not?!
And we haven't even gotten to dumb plot point #3. Oh, yeah. There's more.
After we find out that Suguha is Leafa and all that confusing love jazz we go back and see Asuna being held in her little bird cage. Totally unironically, there are birds there that move away from her at the touch, fleeing the cage.
There, Evil Businssman Natsu reveals that he is the big Fairy King Oberon (so, the heck with it, I'm just calling him Oberon from now on) and that he is the one holding Asuna and 299 other SAO players captive for his research. He even begins to play around with Asuna against her consent. Oh but it gets worse, much worse. Just not yet.
What's his research, you ask? Oh, it's simple. Mind control.
Oh my...where do I even begin?
Remember when this show was just about two people hopelessly in love in a game where death surrounded them and you felt this great tension and curiosity if they were going to make it out alive? Remember the complex stories and mysteries the two came across and the dire situations they faced? While not entirely realistic, they were interesting and somewhat relateable in that these types of things would happen within the realms of the game. It didn't force anything on us, it just happened naturally because it was natural, and it made sense.
Here, it doesn't make any sense. It comes out of freaking nowhere. Kaiyaba created his game to create a brand new world for himself and for players who love this type of videogame. His biggest flaw was trapping people in it, otherwise, it would have been probably the best game ever.
Here, Oberon is sitting on that game. Players absolutely love it. But here he is, doing this stupid thing that can easily be found out with the slip of a tongue or a traced email and would destroy his reputation and the reputation of VRMMORPGs forever.
But the concept itself is baffling. So he created a technology within two years after the NerveGear was created that allows him to manipulate memories and emotions and he's using 300 emotionally damaged and traumatized people as the test subjects? All because...oh, you already know.
He'll get a crap ton of money and so it completely invalidates him wanting to marry into the Yuki family for their money and he's basically just being a huge creep/ pervert and that's his role.
Whoopee.
Finally, after this mind boggling deterioration of a series, the episode ends as Asuna tries to watch as Oberon enters a code to exit the room (he's the Game Master, can't he just walk through walls? This is stupid) but it's blurred out.
Ugh.
The episode itself is okay, until you actually start to use your brain and realize that you're going to be stuck with these glaring plot holes until somebody finally wises up to an act. I still hate these stupid little inconsistencies, but the worst is that it destroys the character of Kirito, who is an extremely intelligent person and should be able to recognize that Leafa and Suguha sound and fight in the exactly same style. Maybe he's so determined he doesn't notice, maybe it is the appearance that throws him off. Or maybe those are all excuses and thankfully Asuna is going to take charge as the most smartest character on the show. My money's on the latter. That pose of determination after Oberon touched her inappropriately was powerful, man.
Go Asuna.
Next time, Leafa and Kirito begin their quest for the World Tree, and we see how many more problems we can pick out. See you then!
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