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THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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SAO presents episode 2 with the debut of Asuna Yuuki :)

Great episode overall tbh from the speech, the debut of the new characters, the boss fight, and Asuna & Kirito's teamwork. Yuki Kajiura does an excellent job once again in this latest series with the powerful soundtrack. I do admit that the fight was quite predictable but overall was executed well imo even though one of their comrades got koed.

Can't wait to see more next time!

Felt rushed

Rushed? Uh oh. I guess it's what happens when they have something as big as Aria SS fit into one episode...

People die... that's one of the reason why I love SAO <3

Love this episode

Rushed? It's an anime afterall <3
You can expect more of this on any adaptation

Reading the novel counterpart of this episode was a mistake.

Felt too fucking rushed, important development got shafted and no Argo. God, who thought it was a good idea to condense one novel in a single episode...

I'm waiting for them to ruin/rush red-nosed reindeer next week.

well that is what separates both forms... anime is limited with episodes and time while with the novel, the author can tell every bit what he wants...

yes, i too feel that rushing things are bad but was it not expected? much like this all other side stories would likely be one episode...

IIRC Aria was quite longer than RNR, so it shouldn't be that rushed.



People die when they are killed? :P

But yeah it's kinda expected, Aria needed about 2-3 episodes to be fully animated, but based on the PV's it wouldn't happen, so eh.

ASUNA!!

They really did cram all of Aria in the Starless Night in one episode. I would have liked one more episode for this but strangely this worked well. The dialogues in the meetin was still intact. We got his labeling as a Beater and Asuna being a strong player. And the guide was still present, though no Argo D:
Most importantly, we're seeing it still in Kirito's point of view. His monologues are still intact. I like what the director is doing.
If next episode is what I think it is, I'm gonna need tissues. Let's see how they do this.

inb4 LN readers raging and Frodos asking about details.

Yeah, the next episode will be a tear jerker.

Still gave it a 4/5 though just because of preferences. But if I rated it without reading Aria itself it's still a 5/5. :>

Someone found boss's place, and needing 8 people groups. He and another girl got left out.

Cheater among them?

The girl wanted to stay as herself before losing, and first time grouping with others. Though he thinks that she's a good fighter. Nice BGM (as expected by Kajiura-sensei) while the battle.

The leader died leading them, so the pair led them instead. The main guy defeated him. He admitted that he's "cheater", who went through that place before.

Nice ED.

Damn I woke up late. This sucks. Anyway nice episode. Asuna is my girl! Her intro in the following,

Was BOOM BASTIC! Asuna in the spoiler got some rather nice features shown. Mainly her body and face are nicely shown. Asuna’s smile is very nice to behold TBH.

The Epitome is in the spoilerCOMBO ATTACK NICE!

About the fight, that Kobold ass in the spoiler always was shit. Last I remember of those shit monsters was in a RPG in arcades. Dragon something. 4 players on one machine. Fun game that looks like this one except that no one dies obviously. Just putting in quarters. That being said the guy in the spoiler poor him! He really got it! Nice they show a potion and it was to help but alas it was not enough. Might edit later.

BTW End Art in the spoiler

is fantastic as usual!

I see the anime is going chronologically instead of the LN's side stories here and there.
This is why in MMO's you make call lists xD
great episode as always.

What chapters/volume of the novel is this episode?

I think this is a side story in Vol 7, or the one before mother's rosario.
Like below poster

It's a huge Side Story called "Aria in the Starless Night"

Huge because yeah...it could have been 2-3 episodes. :V

http://myanimelist.net/manga/37923/Sword_Art_Online:_Hoshinaki_Yoru_no_Aria

This one. Read it at the usual place.

Thanks. ;D

The chronological order is confusing me. =)

Holy fuck, this episode was a disaster if you've read the light novel. Really really irritating episode, full explanation on blog, but there's three main complaints.

1. Completely omitting the existence of "Argo", slaughtering the characterization of Diabel, and screwing over Kirito's moments of badassery.
2. Revamping, or omitting how the fuck Kirito and Asuna met; and how his character affected her character so much [why their romance is going to work].
3. Attenuating the hatred towards beta testers; they were perceived to be more analogous to pests, rather than murderers [and in doing so, missed out on characterizing Kirito].

Well shit. I can't count.

Okay, I'm flabbergasted. I hadn't expected the episode to be this good, considering how rushed it was, but boy am I glad I was wrong.
I don't think I've got much else to say. I loved it.

Oh, there is one thing I need to say.
Tomatsu Haruka does a absolutely fantastic job.