"So the strongest player in the whole game is the final boss? Kinda cliche, isn't it?"
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
KIRITO'S DOWN
ASUNA'S DOWN
WE'RE OUT OF POPCORN
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH
INCRAD HAS FALLEN
Yup, that's right! This is the final episode featuring Aincrad, or the titular "Sword Art Online" game. It all comes to a head in what is, in my opinion, the best episode of the entire show. Talk about a tear-jerker, my goodness. The ending leaves you begging, absolutely begging, to find out what happens next. I don't honestly don't understand how people, while it was first being shown, could wait a week (or longer) for the next episode to come out, I would have been all over the creators to release it.
Why is this such a good episode? Because it has the best moments of the show and is the big payoff that we've been waiting for. Kirito and Asuna vow to protect each other no matter what, offering their lives for one another, and do they mean it? What's the secret behind Heathcliff? Can the game be cleared at all?
All of these questions are answered in a masterfully told twenty-three minute story that really does feel like a season finale, despite it only being a mid-season episode. The first two or so minutes wrap up the battle against Skull Reaper because they have to get it out of the way, and it also raises the question of how long it took to get that thing down to zero HP, but it's also a very unimportant question.
The crux of the episode kind of comes out of nowhere, and I do have a stipulation with the direction they took, but the end result is something I can't really complain about.
Basically, Kirito realizes something about Heathcliff and attacks the commander, revealing that he is actually an immortal object. Figuring that anyone whose anyone would want to play SAO, Kirito raises the question of where Kaiyaba's been hiding all this time, and the big twist is that, of course, Kaiyaba is Heathcliff.
Wwwwwwhhhhoooooaaaa.
Not gonna lie, it totally got me when I first watched it, I felt so duped.
Heathcliff (Kaiyaba?) confirms it and when some players attack him, Kaiyaba paralyzes everyone but Kirito. Heathcliff tells them that he will head up to Floor 100 and await them there, as he is the Final Boss, but first, challenges Kirito to a Duel, and if Kirito should win, the game will end all the remaining players will be sent free. Kirito says his personal goodbyes to Asuna, Klein, and Agil, who all beg him not to fight, and Kirito makes one final request to Heathcliff: should Kirito die in the Duel, the game has to be rigged so that Asuna cannot kill herself.
It's a tough call, honestly, and I have a tough time deciding whether or not I would have fought him. On the one hand, you have him right where you want him on a level playing field with his guarantee that he will not use his Immortal Object abilities. On the other hand, there are still 25 floors to go so there is plenty of time to level up and strategize against Heathcliff. Though, I suppose we did establish last episode that they are on a bit of a clock to beat the game.
My stipulation with the direction is here, where I think they could have continued the Aincrad story and maybe had an interesting new feature where Kirito and Asuna have to step up and become leaders of the Knights of the Blood Oath, but I do like that Kirito accepts the challenge and the arc ends here. Sure, the whole story feels a bit rushed and the pacing is off, but it's still a well-told story that lends itself to some of the most memorable character moments for the entire series.
The duel against Kaiyaba is more one-sided than the last one, since Kirito is fighting less with his head and more with his heart. He also realizes how doomed he really is, since this is a battle to the death and one mistake can spell certain defeat. Since Kaiyaba also designed the unique skill, he refuses to use his Sword Skills, but accidentally goes into a frenzy and uses them, realizing that it was a fatal move, and Kaiyaba eventually gets the better of him, moving in for the kill.
A figure jumps out and takes the attack for Kirito...that figure being Asuna. She is cut down right before Kirito, sacrificing her life to save his own. Not only did she beat the paralysis, but in a way you could say she beat the rig that she was not allowed to kill herself. I'll touch on this in a moment.
Kirito, his spirit completely broken as Asuna dissipated in his arms, takes up Asuna's rapier and his saber and lazily attacks Heathcliff, who bats away his sword and stabs Kirito, dropping his HP to zero. Just before it depletes, Kirito hears Asuna say she believes in him, and though his HP hits zero, Kirito is able to step up and stab Heathcliff with Asuna's blade, killing him instantly. Heathcliff, too, takes it with a smile on his face, and the two vanish as an announcement is made that the game is cleared.
Alright, let's talk what happened. As broken as it is that Kirito was killed but was able to basically keep on going, I really like it. You can say he's protected or whatever, but no. While I don't believe that those who died all accepted their deaths willingly, Kirito's is the only one we saw where he fought back against the system and refused to die. Most players died in shock, few died in agony and tried to prevent their deaths. They had little motivation to escape it in the moment. For Kirito, he had to avenge the only reason he kept on living: he had to avenge Asuna. And in that, it's a beautiful moment.
From Asuna's sacrifice to Kirito's vengeance, that two minute moment basically sums up the theme of the show which is to defy the system that bars you from being able to live. Don't go breaking any laws or being an anarchist, but if something is pretty much killing you, fight back, survive. Be more than a bunch of 0s and 1s in a world.
Then, we get my second favorite moment of the show so far. My favorite is yet to come.
In a place that is clearly meant to be heaven, Kirito and Asuna meet up, surprised to see each other despite being dead. Below them, they watch as the floating castle of Aincrad destroys itself, and there they meet Kaiyaba in his street clothing. He explains that all 6,000 survivors are safe and that ARGUS, the company behind SAO, is shutting down and deleting all its extraneous files. When Kirito asks why Kaiyaba made the death game, Kaiyaba replies that he can't really remember, other than he had a burning desire to create a floating castle in the sky and be the ruler of it as he dreamed of as a little boy. Then, he congratulates the two on clearing the game and fades, leaving Kirito and Asuna alone. The two tell each other their real names (Kirito: Kazuto Kiriyaba, age 16; Asuna: Asuna Yuuki, age 17) and Kirito cries that he was not able to keep Asuna alive until the end. She replies that it doesn't matter, as she was happiest when she was with him and is happy she was able to share those moments with him in her life. Then, they vanish along with the rest of the game.
This moment, these five or six minutes, are so beautiful and so tear-jerking that it's hard to put to words what it really is that makes it work. Yes, Kaiyaba created a game of death that killed four thousand people, and yes, it was over a bit of a fantasy. I'm not trying to make him look like a good person in saying this, but, I'll say it: Kaiyaba's only human. He isn't a criminal mastermind, he isn't in it for anything besides being able to create a brand new world for other people to explore. Sure, he sets the rules, but it isn't like he was changing them all the time to fit his needs. He let the world play out like it was designed to, and found that there was no perfect system, that his dream was still meant to go on. SAO was not the end of the dream for him. Kaiyaba is a human being who has his own goals and is persistent in seeing them made. What he developed for the world is unmatched. And in the end, when he realized that what he did was immoral and unjust, it felt a fitting end for his character, and a fitting end for the game of SAO.
As for the Kirito-Asuna moment, it's the most intimate moment they share. Even though it's the simple act of sharing names, it's still extremely heartbreaking to think that they won't ever see each other again. It also makes you realize that they won't ever really meet. Not matter how in love they are, they haven't met in the real world. Kazuto has not yet met Asuna. And they were so close, they were right there, and they sacrificed their love and their lives for the sake of 6,000 other players to have their own lives. In the end, you have to feel sadly-joyful for them that they won't ever meet, but you're darn glad that they did manage to fall in love and share such wonderful moments with each other. In the end, that's what matters.
BUT THIS ISN'T THE END.
No sir! In a strange twist of fate, Kazuto wakes up in a hospital, with barely any skin on his bones. You can tell there was serious damage done to these players, and probably some serious mental damage done to them, too. It's realistic, though, which is good.
After about a minute, Kazuto sees an image of Asuna from the game and realizes that if he is alive, she is alive. With what little strength he has left, he gets up, and hobbles out of the door, just barely breathing but under his breath, repeating Asuna's name as he begins his quest to find her, ending the episode and the Aincrad Arc.
That ending, though. Seriously.
Not only does it leave you probably out of your seat crying that the two were going to die but now that they are alive and knowing that they can really meet leaves you begging for more. Will Kazuto find Asuna? Will everything work out, are they going to be okay after this? And what happened to Kaiyaba, did he disappear along with everything in SAO? So many questions!
For this episode, though, I'll repeat that it's my favorite episode and is probably the best in the series. Everything is so intense from start to finish and it has that beautiful limbo-moment just before everything fades away that puts the cap on it. From Kirito realizing his true strength to him waking up, this is certainly an episode for the ages. And the artwork in the heaven/ limbo place is to die for!
Good, good stuff.
Next episode, Kazuto begins his readjustment to the real world and we get to meet his little sister that was mentioned briefly back in Episode 4. Also: Agil! See you then!
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