"Oh, no. He loves getting his battle on."
FULL EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD
Sheesh, talk about a rough one. Episode 3 was the saddest episode but this is the clear leader now.
I mean, it all comes out of almost nowhere. It doesn't qualify as a big "shock" moment as much as it qualifies for a "you can't be serious" moment. Still, though, that does not mean it's a bad episode. In fact, it's quite a great episode, one of the best we've seen so far. It has action it has a sub-plot with several throwbacks to other episodes, and it is an emotional roller-coaster like nobody's business.
My quarrel with the last episode is sort of put to rest this episode as in the beginning we see more of the kids there and they do look older, around the age range where it would be appropriate to play SAO, and comparatively, there aren't that many kids in the game as I made it sound last time. So, I apologize. And they are all safe and sound and they are shown to have suffered major psychological damage, in part because they were trapped in a game and in part for other reasons we shall find out later.
Another player, Yulier, arrives at the school/ church to speak with Kirito and Asuna after the newlyweds find out that Yui has not been seen around the Town of Beginnings ever and nobody recognizes her. She's doing much better, and is back to being adorable.
It's difficult to focus on what Yulier is saying because of Yui, too. She just does these little funny things in the background while Yulier is talking, like making weird faces while she drinks her milk, trying to stay awake at the table, things like that. Basically, Yulier is saying that her guild has grown and grown in number and with more people means more annoying people joining in. One such person is a player from way back in Episode 2, the character whom I call Not-Naruto. Apparently he's stirring up the guild, and he was the one that sent the Liberation Army back in Episode 9 to take on the boss, and was eventually killed.
Not-Naruto hatched a plot to take down the guild's new leader, Thinker, who Yulier has feelings for and is his second-in-command. Basically, Yulier wants Kirito and Asuna's help in rescuing Thinker from a nearby dungeon. Yui affirms to Kirito and Asuna that they can trust Yulier, but isn't quite sure how, raising yet another question of who/ what Yui is.
They gear up and despite wanting Yui to stay in town, the little girl journeys with them into the dungeon, watching and listening as they continue to track down Thinker. Kirito leads the party, taking down some monsters, and there's a funny moment when he picks up the dropped items from some defeated monsters and offers them to Asuna to cook later on. Asuna detests and continues to throw them all, eventually getting physical with Kirito, who refuses to let them go. Yui and Yulier watch on in confusion until Yulier starts laughing and Yui points out that she has never seen Yulier smile, like, ever!
But does that mean in the time span of being with her or ever...ever? Hmm...
They continue down the dungeon (which is apparently huge because Yui eventually falls asleep along the way and gets carried by Asuna) until they find a Safe Zone with Thinker in it. Yulier rushes toward him but triggers a trap that nearly gets her killed, Kirito saving her. Yulier takes Yui to the Safe Zone while Kirito and Asuna prepare to fight a Grim-Reaper looking monster that is much higher-leveled than they are.
Typical of Kirito, he tells Asuna to run away and he'll catch up, but Asuna detests and the two step into battle, but are pretty much defeated in the monster's first attack. Thinker and Yulier try to escape with Yui but Yui gets away from them, facing the monster one-on-one. And I'm not gonna lie, what happens next is super freaking cool:
The reaper attacks Yui but is deflected because Yui is an Immortal Object (ah, see, Episode 6 foreshadowing coming back at you). Then, Yui begins to freaking fly and materializes a humongous flaming sword and takes down the reaper in one hit while keeping a dead serious expression on her face.
To put it in terms of the Internet: "SAO plz Yui broken plz nerf #rekt"
So, yeah, something is definitely going on with Yui. As if that weren't proof enough.
And here, we grab our tissue boxes.
Yui reveals that she has her memory back (and is able to pronounce Kirito and Asuna correctly) but, breaks our hearts by saying that she is nothing more than a emotional counselor program, code-named Yui. So, in short, Yui is nothing more than simply AI meant to understand human emotion and register proper responses.
To make things worse, she was meant to go to the aid of all the players who were suffering in the beginning of the game through all the trauma of being trapped, but the Cardinal System (basically the system that keeps the game regulated and runs strictly of its own power) restricted her access to the game, so she watched in horror as players killed themselves and broke down into insanity.
She was saved, however, by two players who were able to find joy and love in a game riddled in sadness and death--those players, of course, being Kirito and Asuna. I won't point out the plot-hole that there are definitely more players who are also in love but whatever, this is sad. Thus, she journeyed until she finally found Kirito and Asuna, never intending to meet them but was happy that she did.
But because she saved them by accessing the Cardinal System to delete the reaper monster, Yui had to be deleted as she was seen as a foreign program to the game. As she disintegrates, Kirito and Asuna tearfully try to hold her down and beg for her not to go, as they were beginning to become a family. Yui leaves them by telling them to keep on loving each other and smiling, as then, they can fulfill her mission for her.
She vanishes as Kirito curses Kaiyaba, then boldly takes action before Yui can be deleted. No, he does not salvage her physical form, but manages to manifest most of her data into a small tear-drop item, called "Yui's Heart" and gives it to Asuna.
Phew. It's a rough sequence of events to watch. Yes, Yui is a brand new character but she molded so well with the Kirito-Asuna dynamic that watching her go is saddening. Since we want to see these two together, it's rough seeing them go through such heart-ache yet again, this time losing someone they love. We haven't really had a sad character death on the show--unless you really, really cared for Diabel or Sachi--so this one hits pretty hard.
I'm glad that the writers didn't totally eliminate Yui, either, keeping a remnant of her with Kirito and Asuna. The episode ends with Kirito making a vow to Asuna to bring Yui back in some form once the two escape the game and Kirito is able to boot her program up. It's definitely something to look forward to and gives them far more reason to complete the game than merely survival and meeting each other. In their eyes, the life of their child depends on it. Their family depends on it.
As Samwise Gamgee would say: "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."
Like I said earlier, this is a great episode. It leaves you crying because you miss Yui but you're happy that she was there. She was such a charming, cute little addition to the show that you kind of want to see her with the two from now on. Her presence just lightened up the mood, made you forget that they were trapped in the death game. It's these relaxing moments that make the show shine, as it provides great contrast to the epic battle sequences.
Yui, you will be missed.
Next episode, we've got something fishy going on in SAO. See you then!
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