"Even so, a fight with me is still gonna scare the hell out of you."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Ah, the return of the two-parter. Been a while, hasn't it? But this is the best one, by far, of SAO. There aren't many two-parters after this, maybe one around episodes 20 or 21 or something.
For the most part, this episode serves as a breather and as a set-up for the next part. I mean, for half of the episode there is nothing but extremely odd feeling of peace that you never really get in SAO. The music is calmed and relaxing, the artwork is all fresh with greens and blues and other bright colors. Kirito and Asuna hardly partake in conversation relating to the actual world of SAO, instead just talking about their lives and the time they've spent.
And in that, it's a good episode. After the last few episodes have been pretty action-packed, particularly the last episode, it's only fair for there to be a breather episode like this one. Sure, it's not entirely relaxing, as a mystery arises midway through the episode that will carry-on through to the next episode, but there isn't anything major that happens to the end.
Nothing really happens in the beginning of the episode, truth be told. It's mostly just Kirito and Asuna making casual conversation in their young-loving way. There is a touching moment when Asuna promises to Kirito that when they escape the game she will find him and they will be in love outside of the game, to sort of cement their marriage in real life. The question of how old Asuna and Kirito actually are is raised but is just as quickly put down. We can safely assume they're teenagers, simple enough.
The episode truly begins when the two go into the nearby forest and Kirito tells Asuna about how the forest is filled with ghosts. They think they see one, but Kirito recognizes it as a little girl. They bring her back to their little cottage--the one they said they would get last episode--on Floor 22 and determine that she is definitely not an NPC and has to be a player, however, she has no icon or health-bar like regular players.
When the young girl, Yui, comes to, she reveals that she has no memory of how she got into the game or what she's been doing the last two years. When Asuna and Kirito try to tell her their names, she insists on calling them "Mommy" and "Daddy" respectively. AW.
Yeah, Yui's totally adorable, I'm not even going to bounce around that. All of her scenes are adorable and they picked a voice actress who could easily pull off the adorable little-girl voice. She's not nearly annoying, either. She doesn't speak out or make annoying remarks. In fact, the only thing annoying about her is the mystery surrounding her. Where does she come from, why is she there, where are her parents? Are her parents even in the game?
To see if they can find someone who knows Yui, or maybe even her parents, Kirito and Asuna head back to the Town of Beginnings, where the whole SAO thing started (like, where Kaiyaba showed up in his big red cloak to tell all the players they were trapped in game). There, we learn that there are approximately 6,000 players still alive in SAO and that about two thousand of them live in the Town of Beginnings still.
Within the town, they find some of the Liberation Army members picking on a school teacher and her students and it's here that I get so confused: how old are these "kids" to be trapped in SAO? They appear to be elementary school students, but, no way. That would meant they were about five, six, seven when they put the NerveGear on to jump into SAO. I find that hard to believe. If they looked older, and maybe they are, then, it's slightly more believable. Like, middle-school aged students. Because then putting on the NerveGear at around ten or eleven makes more sense.
Anyway, Kirito and Asuna defend the students and teacher. While Asuna is being praised for her ability to scare off the soldiers, in indeed a very cool fashion, Yui begins to mutter about all the hearts she is seeing on the ceiling, despite none being there. Suddenly, the area around them begins to freak out, affecting Yui the most, who crumples to the ground. Kirito is speechless and Yui begs for Asuna to help her, since she's scared of what happened, ending the episode.
Yui what are you?
Adorable, that's what she is. And a good episode she was a part of. Again: it was a rather slow episode but that was because so much stuff has been happening lately that we did need a moment for Kirito and Asuna to be romantic and have some quiet time. Adding in the mystery of Yui didn't throw that completely off and served mostly as set-up for the next episode, as there were still several fun and cute moments while they were with Yui, who really does make it feel like the three of them are a family.
Next episode, we find out just who the heck Yui is and how much she can make the audience cry! See you then.
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