"In that world, that Kirito's mission is over now."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Well, Season 1 is over folks. We've finally reached the end of our initial wave of heartache and awkwardness. Aincrad, ALO. Warriors and fairies, it all ends here.
Last episode was really the big final battle, but this episodes, I guess does have a "final boss" of sorts in the early part of it. Most of it is a fairly relaxing ride after that point, just to kind of chill now that the game is beat and our heroes are all safe.
It's another episode I really like for how relaxed it is as well as who's in it because, well, everyone is in it, and all their appearances are cool and in-character.
We open with Kazuto worrying that Asuna might not have made it to the real world, that something may have happened to her. He arrives at the hospital and makes a mad dash for her when someone, from the shadows, cuts him across the shoulder. Why they didn't just gut him is another question but whatever.
Oberon emerges, with his right eye all messed up because of what happened last episode, and proclaims that it hasn't ended at all, that all he has to do is kill Kazuto and find a new company to work under, and then, he will have his godly powers. Mwahahaha....ah gosh I miss Kaiyaba as a villain.
He attacks Kazuto, and before he can land the killing blow, he goes momentarily crazy as he shouts out how Kazuto has no real power since he's just a boy, and Kazuto realizes he has no real reason to fear this psycho since he too has no power outside of the game. Thus, Kazuto turns the tables on him, beating him down until he has the knife to his throat.
Whoa this just got seriously dark.
As the music builds and Kazuto thinks of all the terrible things Oberon has done, he prepares to kill him, but instead, spares his life, dropping the knife as Oberon passes out from fear and pain. Why would you drop the knife?!
Whatever, the fight's over, Oberon is fully defeated, and the cops are on the way.
Kazuto finds Asuna's room and the two meet up in real life FINALLY and they're crying and you're crying because it's what you've been waiting for all this time. They reintroduce themselves with their real names and share a kiss.
In a very touching, and very profound, moment, Kazuto looks up and sees a vision of their SAO avatars floating in the sky, watching. Since they've finally met up, the two avatars take hands and walk off into the sky, signifying that SAO is over, their quest won.
That's just such a cool moment for me, man. It's brief, but it's something about the soft, emotional music that plays we see once again the two avatars together being happy. It just shows that after all the trouble, after all the damage they took, they're still together and they managed to get out of it together. Just...yes.
Some time passes and we see the two of them at school. As it turns out, they are there with all the other students who were trapped in SAO. Kazuto explains that Oberon was eventually turned in and arrested, and that VRMMOs were basically destroyed because of the SAO and ALO incidents that put hundreds constantly at risk. So, yeah, that blows.
Kazuto also confirms for us that Kaiyaba's conscious is alive, and that his body is indeed useless. So, Kaiyaba is somewhere on the web...always watching.
Like I said before, even though the are talking about this stuff, which is pretty serious, you can't help but feel this relaxed vibe coming off of the episode. I mean, nobody's life is at risk, they aren't worried about a boss raid. It's just Kazuto and Asuna having lunch at school.
In a pretty funny moment, we see Lisbeth and Silica (yay!) talking about a truce they have that entails waiting out Kazutoand Asuna's relationship before competing for his love. It once again calls into question just how old Silica is to be in school with them, but, whatever. It's just great to see those two again, particularly in a comedic fashion where they were strongest back in their respective episodes with Kirito.
Kazuto, Asuna, and Suguha all go down to Agil's place where there is a celebratory party being thrown for Kirito having cleared SAO, since they can finally celebrate with Asuna out and safe and the game is finally over. There, we get to see Thinker. You know, from that one episode from a while ago where he had no lines?
Yeah his appearance is rather random.
But, hey, Klein is there! And he's still cool.
The point of the scene, though, is to give us the good news that VRMMOs are not at all dead, but are flourishing better than ever. Basically, the Seed was a program designed by Kaiyaba that would allow almost anyone to create their own VRMMOs with no real risk to life, like SAO and ALO. Thus, many more people began playing and creating. ALO was brought back on online as sort of the flagship one of the lot, and we also learn that soon, players will be able to create a character in one game, then hop over to another one with the same exact character who has the same skills and stats.
And you know what, that's a pretty freaking cool idea. Not only does it allow anyone to make a game to their own wants and desires, but it allows people to explore all new worlds that they may never have thought of. Plus, being able to pretty much world-jump is a great concept. It's clear to see why this would save the industry.
That night, Leafa is flying alone and tries to fly to the Moon, but hits her altitude limit. Kirito catches her, reminding her that it's almost 11, and everyone is getting ready to meet up. In a pretty random scene (padding, I suppose), Kirito and Leafa dance over the clouds before Leafa tells Kirito she wants to go home, since all of his friends are too far away for her to reach, and that she can never really get to be with them or fly with them.
Kirito tells her that isn't the case, and he takes her hand and zips off to the rendezvous point. There, he shows her what he's created with the Seed, or rather, recreated: AINCRAD!!
Yup. Kirito remade Aincrad and has decided to go floor-by-floor to beat it, resetting his stats so he can start from scratch to clear all 100 Floors and make it to the Ruby Castle (also it should be noted that in the new ALO, there is now a real city above the World Tree). I do wonder if, should he reach it, he has programmed Heathcliff to be the Final Boss. Maybe Kaiyaba's conscious would descend for a rematch, that'd be a fight I'd watch.
All of their friends that they've made over the season suddenly appear, zooming past them and headed up for Aincrad. Asuna appears, now with a new avatar that looks the same but with blue hair and eyes, and encourages them to follow, taking Leafa's hand. Kirito whispers something that we can't hear, then excitedly bursts forward with Asuna, Leafa, and Yui, headed back toward Aincrad, ending the season.
Phew.
I would give just a recap on the episode, but, I'll give a recap on the whole season: It's great.
It had a phenomenal first arc in Aincrad, and every mention of SAO within the show excites me for potential to go back. While the ALO arc wasn't as great, and was riddled with plot holes, it was still pretty good. It's not fair to have something that's good next to something that's as good as the SAO arc, as it makes the ALO arc look bad.
But the characters this season were all great and all wrapped up well with the final episode setting up many more possible adventures on New Aincrad. I've spoken at length before about SAO, but I'll just give a quick summation of the big things:
The music is top-notch, some of the best in anime. It's able to evoke all the emotions it needs to out of you and has just the right amount of all types of orchestral music to make the scenes more powerful.
There was clearly one villain superior to the other and the final fate of Kaiyaba is one that leaves a lot of potential stories open and makes you want to see him more to see how he will interact with the new world of VRMMOs.
Kirito and Asuna are probably my favorite pairing and its their chemistry that pushes the show forward and is what gets us so invested in the adventures they go on. They face many interesting perils and circumstances that you keep you on your toes, such as the Grimlocke mystery and the arrival of Yui. While the ALO arc obviously didn't have many moments for the two to share, there were several individual instances for the two to shine in, such as Kirito's final stand against Oberon and Asuna attempting to escape of her own planning.
Overall, SAO Season 1 is amazing and is definitely one to check out, if you haven't already gathered that from these reviews. Now, though, it's time we move onto Season 2, which, early on, has yet another of my favorite SAO moments, and is probably the best twist in the entire show.
What is it? And why is it my favorite? Well you'll just have to read on. Season 2 starts tomorrow, so see you then!
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