Sword Art Online 07-08

So I’m gonna keep the talk about Episode 7 on the light side, especially since it’s been over a week now, but mainly because it wasn’t a huge episode. The adventure was kinda cool but I just feel really sorry for Liz as she seems like that nice and loveable character. I do genuinely feel bad for her as it seems the what by now must be the better part of two years in the game is getting to her (socially anyway) and she just wants that big win that is being in a relationship. Yet fate has played her a cruel hand and she falls for Kirito who Asuna is clearly falling ( if not already fallen) for.

The dungeon thing was a tad boring I feel, yet again just another excuse to get Kirito close to another damsel, however at least this time she didn’t die. What I really liked was seeing how Kirito got his second sword, the sword that will forever annoy me as it makes cosplaying Kirito a little out of my price range at the moment… Well cosplaying him accurately anyway.

Dragoon Poo Ore — Seems Legit!

Then without even the slightest of hints we hit what I have been waiting for. The two year mark, otherwise known as Chapter 5 of the first novel and it was as awesome as I could have ever dreamed. Kirito vs the Lizardman was such a well choreographed fight scene in the novel I was really looking forward to seeing it in full blown video action and Kirito’s ‘box-cutter’ sword skill was pretty close to how I imagined it. Then we have the Ragout Rabbit, perhaps the rarest of weak monster spawns, or at least that’s the impression I got from the LN, which I finally got round to finishing whilst my internet was down. The only things that surprised me with this were A, the shear size of the joint it dropped, but hey it’s a MMO so realism not needed but mainly that there were no other players camping around waiting for the illusive pray, Or perhaps there was someone hiding behind the scenes watching in horror as Kirito appeared at just the right time to steal his prize.

I have to admit I like Kirito would have opted to sell the meat as I would no doubt be in a similar situation, that being not having a cooking skill. However as luck would have it Asuna has mastered it and just happens to be loitering around Agil’s shop looking for Kirito. The result more quality with the super cute Asuna and is it just me or has the art quality gone up this week? I constantly felt that everything looked better than in past episodes, but this could simply be as I can finally watch in 1080p again.

So skipping straight over Asuna’s lovely house and amazing cooking we get Kuradeel. You all simply can’t imagine how much I loath this arrogant tool, in fact the language I was thinking of using to describe him is certainly not PG. he just hangs around with Asuna, I know it’s his orders but he’s using them as an excuse to get closer to her and not with much progress. He is actually much older looking than I imagined, the LN describes him as being in his twenties having watched this I would place him in his forties. You can tell just how arrogant by looking at the decoration on his sword. No real warrior needs that much bling on a non-ceremonial sword. Ah well I smiled to myself for a good 10 minutes when Kirito slapped into his place and broke his sword :) A fight seen that although simple I felt had been done total justice by the animation team.

The dungeon exploring as well is something I felt was done to near perfection, despite it being only a simple battle with a mid-level floor monster. Just getting to see how Asuna and Kirito’s teamwork is still top notch and of course watching Asuna’s fighting style is always a pleasure. The book describes it as her dancing with the swords and it certainly felt this way in the episode. Potentially the only thing lost is the book puts emphasis on the fact that Asuna’s strength comes from her speed not her physical strength. So whilst she landed lots of hits each does relatively little damage. Whilst Kirito on the other hand likes to chain up big hitting combos and this is the reason why they work so well as a team.

Then the twist… it just wouldn’t be a casual day out with friends mapping the dungeon if they didn’t stumble across the boss room. A room which they know could be an anti-crystal area making them unable to escape, yet they still open the door, yep that sounds sensible. Well we will have to wait till next week to see what happens but by the look of the preview a boss battle is going to be the main event.