"Daddy's yawn usually lasts about eight seconds."
"Yeah, Yui, keep the trivia to yourself."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Alright, an episode that heavily features Asuna! And, dang it, an episode that features a lot of "OH COME ON"s, but in a good way. Not in a "oh come on you idiot" more like "oh come you were right there" kind of way.
This episode also features a lot of Suguha and Kazuto interacting as well as a big decision on Suguha's part that I'm sure in no way will result in a full episode of straight up awkwardness to come. Nope, not at all!
The great animation is back, though, from its slight departure last episode, and there are several clever techniques used throughout the episode to get the most of the story, such as tons of irony and foreshadowing.
We begin with Kirito and Leafa arriving in Arun (pronounced are-oon), a city that looks remarkably like Leugru, the one in the cave, but is much larger. Consider it to basically be the New York City of ALO, that's what it's made out to be like. They're set to continue their quest but are forced to log out because of server maintenance for much of the day. Kirito is clearly disappointed, so thank God he remembered why he's in this game again. Phew. I was getting worried there.
Back in the real world, the two recover from their long hours of gaming, and I am once again perplexed how easily they can walk outside in single-layers of clothing while snow had just come down in their area. Kids these days.
Asuna, back in the game, continues her escape plan, managing to make great headway down the path of the World Tree. I do have to wonder why she doesn't just jump off of the branches and start flying, but, she probably doesn't know how to fly and I really don't know if she would survive the landing--as in, her mind would survive. Still, though, she manages to get inside the World Tree while in stealth mode, taking advantage of every hiding spot to check for clearings. She hastily searches on the map inside for a room that may have a system console to log her out, but her curiosity spins her toward the "Experiment Room," as she has to know what kind of plans Oberon has for the 300 SAO captives.
In the real world, Kazuto brings Suguha along with him to the hospital to see Asuna, and they discuss the important question of what the heck Kazuto is doing for school. Because...yeah, he's kinda been out of school and fighting for his life the last two years. What's cool, though, is that they're making a school to put several of the SAO survivors together to learn and catch up with the rest of the students their age. It makes sense, as it's true that nobody really knows yet how the SAO survivors are going to react to the real world, particularly the students, and these are people they've been interacting with for the last two years. They would work well off of each other and probably be very supportive.
Asuna finds the experiment room, which is a room of 300 pods that are tracking the holographic brains of all the players. It really is a creepy scene to see that these players emotions and thoughts are being not only tracked, but influenced by Oberon and his team. His team of...
Slug people. Yeah, for some reason two of the scientists Oberon is with are slug people, and not real people. Why that is I have no idea.
After silently promising to free the two hundred people, Asuna rushes to the system console, where she is just about to log out...
At the hospital, Kazuto introduces Asuna to Suguha and vice-versa. Suguha wonders what is must be like for Asuna while she's trapped, hoping she's doing okay.
...when she is attacked by the two slug people who begin to torture her. We see her constantly struggle to just press the log-out button and finally awaken from this horrible nightmare, but nope, they manage to fling her away at the last second. Just before one of them can have his twisted, perverted ways with her, the other warns them that Oberon wants her back in her cage and for them to change up the password. Slyly, after biting one of them, Asuna steals the key card for the console, hoping it will be of some use for her.
Suguha wonders if going to the hospital was the right call, as she is still confused on her feelings for Kazuto. She is unsure of whether or not she wants to be a good sister (cousin?), or something more. Now, as uncomfortable as this is, I do have to sort of relax on that since this is Japanese culture and they do things differently over there. Cousins marrying cousins isn't that weird (heck, it's not even that weird in the United States, just take a little trip down south), but it's when she says a line that she's unsure if she wants to be a sister or something more, or she got her heart broken because she loves her brother that it gets a little uncomfortable.
That's really the only way to describe it, too. It's just uncomfortable to watch. Like, they were raised to be brother and sister, so, it's almost incestuous what she's thinking about. It's also made worse by the fact that, when Kirito and Leafa begin their journey again, she desires no longer Kazuto but Kirito, as she still thinks they are different people.
Oh, the set up that awaits us here.
Anyway, the two arrive in the Central District of Arun, where Yui exclaims that Asuna, without saying her name of course or that would blow everything out of the water, is right above them. Kirito then shoots up into the sky to try and rescue her, despite Leafa just establishing that was impossible, and that ends the episode.
So, yeah. A good episode. Asuna's moments are great and it continues to show her resilience and persistence on never giving up. Even though she was captured, she did manage to steal the key-card, which has to amount for something. The only downside is the awkward moments with Suguha that are a bit uncomfortable to watch.
I just can't buy it, and I don't know why. It feels forced and out of nowhere. The way the story is set up, there is no escaping what is coming, and I am pretty much dreading it.
Is it that bad though (yes)? Find out next time...I think. See you then!
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