"So, why don't you team up with me again? Black's my lucky color this week anyway."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
We continue along our journey in Aincrad discovering the players have been trapped there for pretty much two years now. Oh, fantastic.
But the way that the beginning shot sort of tells the audience that despite the fact that the assault team has made it all the way to Floor 74, and that it's been two years, they still have pretty much an impossible trek ahead of them. It brings back the old feeling you got from the first and second episode when people were struggling on just Floor 1. Yeah, they've come far, but, at what price and how much more can these people carry on? This isn't a complaint, either, rather it's a good thing. Forgetting that they're trapped in this game with pretty much an impossible way out is would be bad considering it's the premise of the freaking show.
The beginning of the episode is a little odd, if I do say so myself. It's been two years and it seems that Kirito is the strongest player in the game, right? Why, then, do we see him sort of struggling against a basic monster? I'm sure it's a high-level one, but it's not like it's a mid-level boss or anything, just another monster. We do see that he's a little tired, but, from what? We aren't given much to go off of other than Kirito has been fighting this one monster that was keeping him on his toes. It's weird, to say the least.
He redeems himself, though, by finding what is apparently an "S-Class" animal, sort of like finding a Shiny Pokemon. So it's right up there with the likes of Erza, Mirajane, Laxus, and Mystogen, right? Ah, Fairy Tail jokes.
Kirito tries to sell it to Agil, who convinces him to cook it, and when the two are out of ideas on what to do with it, Asuna shows up and Kirito asks for her help in cooking it, since she has maxed out her cooking skill. We knew she was a good cook before, but, apparently in a brief amount of time she managed to become the best. Kirito makes a deal that since he found it, if she cooks, she can have a little bit, but she forces him to let her eat half.
I love how endearingly terrifying Asuna is. She shows up to see if he's still alive (not really, she just wants to see him because she likes him) and is all charming and then the next second she's ready to punch him in the face to let her eat some of the meal. Love Asuna.
And I love Agil, too. He's got such a fun attitude about everything and while we've seen he is a serious character, we mostly see him as comedic relief. Because he's just a fun kind of guy to be around, he's the type of person you would want to hang out with when you're bored or feeling down or something like that. There to lift your spirits.
As they leave, Asuna suggests they go to her place, since she has proper cookware, but her bodyguard Kuradeel objects, so Asuna uses her authority as second-in-command to make him go away.
Now, in real life, I wouldn't have much of a problem if someone like Asuna had a bodyguard. You know, a teenage girl who is ready to step up to a leadership role of her guild or whatever, yeah. She's important. But in a skill and level-based videogame where Asuna is one of the strongest players and can't be killed by any other petty players (due to the fact that the strongest players in the game are her allies), I don't see the need for a bodyguard. If she's like Kirito, and probably is just as strong, then her listening skill and her senses are pretty much maxed out so she would be able to sense a sneak-attack. And, on her map, she's able to see where various red players are. So why does she even need a bodyguard?
Asuna tries to explain it but even she doesn't get it. I don't either. If they had bodyguards for maybe some of the newer guild members who were trying to level up and needed protection, then I could understand. If they were trying to clear a Floor Boss, then I could understand. But doing such mundane things as walking around? Nah, I don't get it.
To the episode's credit, they don't make too big a deal of it when it first shows up, instead skipping ahead to Kirito and Asuna landing at her place on Floor 61. It's a really cool looking floor (drawn very well but I'm sure people are sick of me loving the show's animation) that you can tell is sort of the Park Avenue of the game, with it's great scenery and rich-looking houses.
And it cost Asuna four million to get it. Dang.
Asuna starts cooking up the meal and like smithing it is way easier in game than in real life. You're just tapping down on the ingredients or tools, it's not even fair. Asuna says it's boring, and I say I want that ability all the time. Do you realize how easy making pizza would be? Speaking of, I still want my easy-bake pizza from Back the Future Part II. It's 2015, which means we should have it. The future is now, people.
The two, after finishing their meal, discuss the decreasing number of players that are actually trying to clear the game. Even though just a second ago we established that the Knights of the Blood Oath were growing in number, but, whatever. I suppose we can assume that the Knights of the Blood Oath are the only major guild now, the Holy Dragon Alliance just disappeared or something. Schmidt disbanded them, I don't know.
Apparently more people are becoming so adapted to the world of SAO that they're forgetting about their real world lives. I mean, things are easier there. Food is easier to make and come by (since the animals respawn), and there are more interesting and visually pleasing things to do, right?
Eh, not so much. Asuna points out that as cool as SAO is, it's still nothing compared to the real world. And she's right. You can get married and have a family, but you can't have kids. There are so many things to do outside the game. People have families on the other side, they have people that need their help. Sure SAO is cool, but it's not the whole world. It can't be. While it is still living, it's not the full potential of life. Luckily, we're reminded of that this episode as the two talk, that living on is the reason to clear the game now. It's not so much survival, as Kirito said last episode, but about living on and winning.
Also it almost feels like they try to throw in some epistemological element when Asuna mentions she feels like she's been there her whole life. Thankfully no, that's not the case. She just means it that they've become so adapted to the world that they've sort of settled into how it works, so life feels different for them.
When the serious talk is up we get a funny, even cute, little moment that forwards the budding romance between the two as Asuna sort of hits on Kirito by asking him to join her party for a day, just to hang out, maybe clear a dungeon.
You know, first date stuff.
The next morning, they bump into each other (ish) and Kuradeel arrives, trying to force Asuna to go back to headquarters, but she doesn't want to. He challenges Kirito to a duel when Kirito says he and Asuna are gonna do some dungeon-clearing. Alright, finally, we get our very first duel. The tension is high as our fighters take their stances and Asuna worries for Kirito and for some reason a Laughing Coffin member is there but we'll get to that in a couple of episodes and...
Kirito cuts his sword in half and the Duel is over and Kuradeel whines like a baby and goes home.
Well that was underwhelming.
They did mention that Kirito was ten levels higher than Kuradeel but would ten levels seriously warrant Kirito being able to slice through his sword? Also, second episode in a row Kirito has broken a sword in two, what the heck are you doing bro?
With him gone, the two head the dungeon Kirito was at before, and here we can see that Asuna is not only an awesome character, but still an awesome fighter. We haven't really seen her in too much action since the second episode, and you can tell that all the hype about her is real. She's cutting up monsters like it's nobody's business, and looking cool while she does it. Even Kirito is impressed.
The two come across the boss room and decide to just take a peak at the boss. They step inside, the candles light up, the epic score "We Have to Defeat It" plays to signal some impending doom, and we see our giant blue demon Floor Boss "Gleam Eyes" as the episode cuts to black.
Oh boy do we have a show tomorrow.
This episode, like most, is okay but is put at another level with the material and screen-time between Kirito and Asuna. You look forward to every moment they share together because of how well the two mesh and you want them to be together. It's difficult to explain what it is, but something about them just clicks for me.
Beyond that, the animation for Floor 61 is great, the dialogue is great, and we have a perfect cliffhanger to tell us what is coming in the next episode. See you then!
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