Sword Art Online

[BTime]

The new arc reminds me of Monty Python.. and now for something completely different..

I'm liking the new arc. As a long-time viewer of Anime it's great when a series can throw some real surprises at you.

[KannoFan83]

Yeah, he was supposed to be dark skinned, but whatever. He would have looked super weird and laughable, so I don't really mind that they changed it.

[Damias]

Episode 17

A good episode. Freakin' dumbass here is using the game as a way to manipulate the human brain emotion/ memory thingy. That's a twist... :)

[lacusclyne16]

I feel bad for Asuna, I really want that sack of s**t to die a horrible death.
Other then that sack of s**t this was also a good episode it's moving along quite nicely I'm really enjoying this, can't wait until next week when Kirito and Leafa start making their way to the world tree.

[Aranneas]

Obeyron?

Moar liek ObeRon Burgundy, amirite

I can't shake the feeling that the writer really hated Asuna for some reason. First (s)he built her up as a decent, capable warrior, then she got torn down emotionally with relatively flimsy justification. now she's been made literally useless, already been effectively mindraped, and stands to be both actually raped in her mind and raped in real life soon enough. Patterned after a bad ex-gf maybe?

[TheZippo]

ep 17

I wasn't expecting leafa to be his cousin - that was an interesting surprise

[Aranneas]

^
and I wasn't expecting

her to not even consider it might have been him. seriously. there's no way she hasn't heard her brother was a hero by now.

[AhnYS]

It was strongly foreshadowed last episode where Kirito says that he might pick up kendo again (an activity that his cousin enjoys doing) and then his cousin says oh I also...then cuts herself off. It seemed pretty obvious to me she was referring to playing MMO's as that was his main hobby. Also knowing the light novel/anime is extremely cliche I should probably drop this. But I won't, it's official SAO is my guilty pleasure of 2012.

[Nihatclodra]

My guess of how this series ends is

Kirito is gonna be too late, and Asuna's memories will be altered so that she will love that other dude... then Yui will take control of the system and return her memories back to normal... but whatever other circumstances will keep Asuna from logging out so she has to stay in the game indefinitely. Then Asuna and Yui live together in the virtual world, and Kirito either forsakes the real world for living permanently in the virtual world with Asuna and Yui, or he ends up with his cousin in the real world.

Can someone who's read the LN PM me on a scale from 1-10 how close I am with my theory?

[hoffstyle]

I sent you a PM.

Episode 17

I love how this go around, he is essentially lost. He's a year behind all other players and he is going to HAVE to rely on others.

It stands to reason Suguha didn't know until she saw that look in his eyes. To be honest, any swinging dick can go into a game and name himself "Kirito"..another MMO trope if you think about it. How many variations of Legolas for example will you see in an mmo?

Question is: Will she use it to her advantage?

I also love how this arc has a clear Antagonist, with a clear plan.

Just keeps getting better.