"All I am's your friendly neighborhood mercenary."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
So I was totally wrong yesterday, they're only slightly veering from the path of the World Tree. But still, it's not on the path so what the heck.
This episode, for what it's worth in being a side-step in the main plot, is still pretty good, and features one heck of a battle between Kirito and the strongest player in the game, supposedly, General Eugene. The animation for the fight sort of takes a back-seat but it's otherwise one heck of a sword-fight, and even part magical battle, between the two warriors. Not only that, but Eugene and two other characters we meet, Sakuya and Alicia, are pretty chill.
And we get to see what Asuna's been up to again! It's not much, but it's actually pretty darn important what we do see.
This episode begins immediately where the other one left off, with Kirito and Leafa rushing out of the cave toward the meeting ground. And it's here that this is minus one point for me as we see them momentarily fly in the direction of the World Tree.
Whoops.
They speed up their flying time, since the meeting is set to begin in twenty minutes, and they eventually come up on the Salamanders, who manage to beat them there and surprise the delegation. Kirito and Leafa arrive, with Kirito demanding to speak with the commander. Sakuya, the Sylph leader (though for the most part Sigurd was portrayed as the leader but whatever) is super confused as to what is going on, and Leafa is too, since Kirito is making stuff up as he goes.
But's very clever, stuff, and it all probably comes from the experiences he has in Aincrad where he had to make stuff up on the fly as a solo player. Eugene asks what a Spriggan would be doing at a Sylph-Cait Sith meeting, and Kirito tells him that he is actually an ambassador for the Spriggan-Undeen (another class in ALO) who is at the meeting to negotiate trading terms. Thus, he has a role in the meeting and would appreciate Eugene backing off. Eugene, not wanting to break up a major alliance that is supposedly brewing, but totally isn't, wants to find out if Kirito really is strong enough to represent both classes without a bodyguard, and challenges him to a 30-second battle.
Kirito's character has kind of stabilized lately as he hasn't really done much lately besides be there for some awkward comedy moments and a few strong speeches, but he hasn't had as many good character moments as here. It's his quick thinking that kept him alive in SAO and that eventually beat the game. It's one of his stronger character traits, and it's good to see it make a return here.
The two begin their fight and I can't help but wonder if the writers forgot that they set a 10 minute time limit on themselves for flying, since Kirito and Leafa were definitely flying for more than 10 minutes, and Kirito's battle against Eugene is in the air so their wings should give out.
Eugene makes the first attack by cleverly waiting for the clouds to move away from the sun so the glint off his blade would blind Kirito. Kirito tries to block it, but Eugene's blade just fazes through and smashes into Kirito, sending him crashing into the mountain. Apparently, he has a super high level blade that will faze through any swords and shields that try to block it.
HAX!
Kirito returns to the battle and the fight begins anew, with Kirito dodging instead of blocking, but is taking massive damage that I actually think would knock him out given how strong Eugene is supposed to be. But, Kirito's the protagonist, so whatever.
And as cool as the fight is, the animation here is pretty lack-luster. The faces are drawn awkward and often long, and when Kirito puts up smoke and steals Leafa's blade, her body movements are rapid and clunky, with her limbs not following really any bone structure. Also, that shot is totally used for mostly fan-service. Sigh.
Everyone thinks Kirito used the smoke screen to run away, when in reality he used to soar into the air, then come down on Eugene. He tries to attack Kirito, who manages to use a loophole in the magic sword's abilities: instead of blocking with Leafa's blade, he actually takes a swing at Eugene's as an attack, but continues through it like it's a parry.
That Kirito.
So, yeah, dual-wielding Kirito is back in action! Instantly the fight takes a different turn, as Kirito uses his overwhelming strength to power through Eugene's defenses and then cuts him in half, actually. It's pretty grotesque, and, again, the animation just doesn't feel right.
The Salamanders back off from that as the Cait Sith and Sylph delegation cheer on, and we see that Leafa has undoubtedly fallen head-over-heels for Kirito.
Oh. Boy.
I would say the fight is worthy of praise, too. Kirito displayed some major skill, particularly the dual-wielding skill, and managed to defeat the game's strongest player.
Sakuya revives Eugene, and when asked by Kirito, Eugene agrees to back off but expresses a desire to battle Kirito again, to which Kirito agrees. Sakuya demands an explanation for why the heck Leafa and Kirito are there in the first place, and apparently it takes her several hours to give the explanation as they start talking in the day time and we cut away and its daybreak in the game. Weird, it only took a few minutes for Rekon to tell her...
As the kind leader she is, Sakuya has Alicia set up a magic mirror to talk to Sigurd, and there, she banishes him from the Sylph class to wander the neutral territory. Aw, yeah.
Alicia, beginning to flirt with Kirito, asks if he really did make up the stuff about the Undeen and Spriggan, and Kirito confirms it. Now with that done, we get a silly little flirtation scene where Alicia hits on Kirito, asking for him to become the personal mercenary for the Cait-Sith, while Sakuya flounces some fan-service to have him go out with her...?
Leafa tries to say that Kirito belongs to her but manages to stop herself just in time. Kirito, awkwardly enough, manages to free himself of them and tells them that he and Leafa are hurrying to the World Tree. Sakuya and Alicia agree to help but it will take several days for them to get ready.
To speed up that process, despite leaving without them, Kirito hands them all the money he has for both their armies to upgrade their gear to make an attack on the World Tree. As the two classes leave, Yui properly scorns Kirito for his heart flaring while the two women were hitting on him. Leafa asks what he would do if she would have done that, and Kirito pretty much friend-zones her on the spot in a nice, subtle fashion.
Nice.
Thus ends the episode for Kirito and Leafa. Like I said, it's a good episode filled with an awesome action scene and some very quick thinking on Kirito's part. Finally, he gets to show off his quick-thinking abilities as well as his dual-wielding skills. A much missed element. Plus, this silly little-subplot is over, and now, they are headed back on the path of the World Tree!
But, that's not all. In a quick scene, we see Asuna use the code Oberon uses to bust out of the cage as she silently tells Kirito that she will not give up, and that she will find him, ending the episode.
So, will Asuna escape? Or will Kirito find her first? Keep it locked here for my thoughts on the answers! See you then.
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