"You two are always getting into it. And not in the good way!"
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Today's episode marks the first of many missions Asuna and Kirito take part in together, as well as begins the bond that we see flashes of in the opening every episode. Though, it does not start out that way, and I kind of like it that way.
Once again we've made a major time jump, so now it's March of 2024. Keeping in mind that the game started in late 2022, these people have been stuck in this game for a long time. But it's not like they haven't made much progress.
Even in the first minute alone we can see how far everyone has come. Most of the assault-team players are in the first big group-shot with their groups and you can sort of tell, by the way they are animated, that they have undergone major differences. Klein not so much, but Agil looks different since he has much larger armor. The one who has undergone the greatest change is definitely Asuna.
When we last saw her, she was in pretty regular clothing. Now, though, she's in a a white and red dress with armor and looks older. I'm not sure how that is unless there's a real-time clock within the game that would age players, but I doubt that's the case and her newer, older look was just done to show that she has advanced. I don't mind it, heck, I like it. Asuna is a bossy person, and nobody in-game is going to take her seriously if she looks like a frail little girl.
Kirito doesn't change at all appearance wise but we can assume he's continuing to level up, since apparently he's been working on and off with the assault team since he was with Silica a while back.
Contrary to what should be the case, Kirito and Asuna get into an argument about how to handle the Floor Boss, arguing whether or not NPCs are real or not. Asuna says to sacrifice them, Kirito disagrees, and we're left to assume no verdict is made on what's right or wrong. We do find out that NPCs do re-spawn, but I'll make the same argument I made for Pina last time: their life might be real, but in a game where life hangs on the edge of a knife, preserving it is very important to some players.
You can't really fault Asuna for taking such a hard approach. We haven't seen her evolution as a character since that day where Kirito told her to become strong and join a guild, but we can see where it's led without the details. In the words of Kirito: "Who knew she'd become a floor clearing badass?" And that's really all you need to know. Asuna took to Kirito's words, hardened her heart, and has become the second-in-command to the most powerful guild in the game, the Knights of the Blood Oath. A silly name, yeah, but they command the biggest army and can take anyone out. Can't fault them there.
So, we can assume that Asuna's resolve to finish the game is untainted by the destruction of a few (essentially) mindless pieces of the game that are just there for atmospheric purposes of the game. But, she is a bit serious, and that's where one of the more memorable Kirito-Asuna moments comes into play.
The floor they are on is on it's "Spring" seasonal setting, so Kirito decides to take a break and take a nap, wanting to soak in as much as the nice weather as possible. Asuna interrupts him, telling him to get up and work, since every day they lose in game is a day lost in the real world. Slyly, Kirito says they aren't in the real world, and goes back to sleep. When he wakes up. he finds Asuna taking a nap, and when she wakes up, she reluctantly promises to take him to dinner.
What makes this moment so memorable is that it not only quells Asuna and brings her down to Earth, but it's also a moment that really puts the situation into perspective. Since they aren't in the real world, and are fighting to survive every day, moments like those are far and few between, and need to be taken advantage of. Kirito's lackadaisical attitude toward the game isn't entirely bad, as he constantly shows his drive to beat the game and has shown the ability to do so. It's a refreshing, relaxing moment not only for him but for the story as well, just to be able to sit back and take a break for once. That message is only forwarded when Asuna realizes the same thing and succumbs to the amazing weather of the Floor.
But, sadly, we can't stay on break forever (something students all across America are realizing right now), and during their dinner, the two discuss a new method of murder by the PKers, aptly called "sleep PKing" in which a murderer will use the player's hand to initiate a duel from the menu--since you access the menu by swiping your hand in the game--and from there, they are able to kill the player as they sleep. Since it's impossible to kill someone with a town/ safe zone, this is the only method of murder within a safe zone, and has been increasing.
A mystery unfolds, though, when another player is seen hanging from a tower with a spear through his chest. He dies but there is nobody around with the "winner" icon to signal that a Duel was waged, meaning he might have been killed, in a safe zone, outside of a Duel.
A girl, Yoroko, steps up and reveals the murdered man was an old guild-mate of her, Keinz. Kirito and Asuna promise to talk more with her the next day, but first need to research the weapon. They take it to Agil, who runs a shop on Floor 50, and he reveals a player named Grimlocke forged the weapon, but there is hardly any further information on it. Kirito wants to test the strength of the weapon, and prepares to stab his hand but Asuna stops him, telling him to stop being reckless.
Says the woman who wants to lure a Floor Boss into a town so they can attack it there. Yeah. C'mon Kirito, stop trying to find evidence and just give the weapon back to Agil...???
The next day they talk with Yoroko who reveals how her guild, Golden Apple, slowly deteriorated after they found a high-level item. Their leader, Grisalda, was mysteriously killed when she went to sell it after the guild voted on whether or not to keep it. Kirito and Asuna deduce the killer was someone who wanted to keep the ring, and whoever the killer is was hunting down the rest of the guild, since they were also probably the ones who killed Grisalda. Grimlocke is put into question but is immediately taken out of the question since he was a lower-leveled player and was just a smith, really. And he was Grisalda's husband. They decide to go after Schmidt, another player who wanted to keep the ring, who is currently on the front-lines.
Not gonna lie, this is a pretty good mystery. Like any good mystery, it calls into play more than just the "whodunit?" The question of Grimlocke's sword being lodged into Keinz, the mystery of the murder, and the fact that the Golden Apple guild is crumbling to the ground are all clearly headed in the right direction, but everything is so foggy and there are so few people around to give answers that it's difficult to see where this is going, but you know these lines are going to converge and give a big clue coming up.
We see a bit on inconsistency with the rules of the game, or at least with what Kirito says, when he and Asuna are walking away to get to Schmidt. He points out that there is no one skill to bypass the rule of no murder in safe-zones, calling the game fair...when just last episode he remarked SAO is an unfair game in how powerful players can become. Well what the heck, man? Is it fair or not? Maybe the rules are fair but the levels aren't? I don't know, I'm not playing the game.
They bring Schmidt to the inn Yoroko is in, and the two begin to go mad trying to figure out if it was Grimlocke who killed them or someone else. Yoroko finally snaps, exclaiming that she thinks it was Grisalda's ghost that was the killer after all, getting her vengeance on the entire guild for not listening to her in the first place. Her madness slips her to the window, where a knife from the outside plunges into her back and she falls to her death, Kirito too slow to catch her.
This is a brilliant scene. It begins with a clearly shaken Schmidt trying to assess the situation while the music is silent. Then when Yoroko speaks, the eerie music begins to build. The music grows louder and louder, building the suspense that maybe it is a ghost that is haunting them, until finally, it suddenly stops and the loud strings of a violin are all that plays as Yoroko falls to her death, and thus ends the episode.
While the opening few moments of the episode are pretty much unrelated to what the plot of it becomes, it was still a good first few minutes to catch us up with where Asuna and Agil have been lately without the need of heavy exposition. The mystery of the episode is very good and leaves us on a huge cliffhanger, especially since Yoroko teased that Grisalda's ghost may be the one behind it all, and since Yoroko kind of plummeted to her death just before we cut to black. Overall, a great episode that leaves you begging for more.
Tomorrow, we continue, and solve, the mystery in "Illusionary Avenger." See you then!
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