Sword Art Online Episode 13 Discussion

Obstinate said:

Love-overcomes-all-odds? Check.
Isn't that an aspect of romance?

Smileeyface said:


Like you said, an aspect. There are many other aspects that ought to be present if romance is to be one of its genre.

Wait... or are you being sarcastic? Hmm. :shrugs:

The fishing part is by far, the most relevant part of the whole show.

Yes, more relevant than all of the previous 12 episodes add together.

Why Kirito power level the way he did?
What kind of person Asuna was, and is now?
What kind of life other players lead?
What's probably happening to their real body?

We even get to see what Kirito holds dear, his fear of losing Asuna.
And how he wish he could just run away with Asuna, away from danger, away from everything!


This episodes, paints Kirito and Asuna with a color that they both lack... The color is call, "To Be a Normal human being"

HauntingShock said:

Yumekichi11 said:
Something does not make sense here. To clear SAO you need to do 100 floors right? Or not?
just in case.

Raziel1991 said:
A positive thing I have to say is that the Knights of the blood leader guy (heathcliff was he called? I dont really remember), looked really badass in the fight at the end of the episode. He is the only one who appears to be calm during the entire fight.

Takana_no_Hana said:
See? What was so hard about it? If they had added only a few minute of showing character developments, dialogue from the start like what they did with Asuna this episode, SAO would have been better. SAO needs moments like this.

meepsheep said:

Agreed :p

Yumekichi11 said:
I want to know why cause it's supposed to be 100. Best guess is the trap is stopped but how and who is what I want to know.

Yumekichi11 said:
I want to know why cause it's supposed to be 100. Best guess is the trap is stopped but how and who is what I want to know.

Yumekichi11 said:
etc

Sa-chan_ said:
This is the episode that I'm waiting for(Except the fishing part). But holy fuck, that monster is too overpowered.

Takana_no_Hana said:


spoiler - click at your own risk

InfiniteDestiny said:


Bosses are suppose to be OP; thats why they are always dealt with in groups; which makes Kirito going solo on one all that much more BA and shows how hard it really was (granted that boss was no where near this one)

InfiniteDestiny said:


So being calm during a fight is a good thing? Last time i checked when your life is on the line you aren't suppose to be calm...

Raziel1991 said:


Of course its a positive thing, in a fight you are suposed to remain calm, if you dont you can easily do stupid mistakes that can cost your life.
I havent read the novels but its obvious he is a top player and as such its expected for him to remain calm during fights but the thing is Kirito who is a high level player as well does not remain calm which probably one of the reasons why he keeps spouting all those cliche lines over and over again

InfiniteDestiny said:


Sigh, then people like you criticize about believable characters; you contradict yourself,being experienced, or powerful doesn't change anything; i like to see you remain calm when a huge freaken skeleton drops itself on you; there is a reason Heathcliff is calm; and no it isn't because he is some BA either.

Is it best to remain calm, of course, like you said better chances at staying alive; is it realistic to stay calm...not really T_T, you don't have to freak out and freeze like those two who died right away did; but to remain all calm and composed is BS and by no means the norm of fighting.

Raziel1991 said:


Of course it does change everything, he is a top player and in order to become a top player he probably put his life on the line several times and as such he should be used to fights that can cost his life. I would obviously freak out if was in the same situation, but thats pretty normal, I have never put my life on the line before so its pretty clear Im not used to that kind of stuff.

And by the way, most of the time I dont have problems with non believable characters and over the top stuff, in fact I actually like it as long as it does not reach BS levels, like for example a 14 year old being a programmer.

Also I wonder what that other "reason" is, is it beacause thats whats expected from a leader? Anyway I doubt they will reveal it in the anime.

Takana_no_Hana said:
Some elites with nasty affixes are even OP than diablo himself in D3 (before patch) ... Have you ever seen a hardcore lvl 60 gamer in diablo 3? it's pretty much like SAO in some aspects. They're sure calm ...
Technically you're gonna be 1shot.
Being 2nd, 3rd highest lvl in game, it explained why Kirit and Asuna could withstand the atk from boss when joined forces. Healthcliff with that OP unique skill made him harder than a tank, thus he was able to solo guarding against the boss.

AirStyles said:
The amount of idiots who diss the first half(the greatest part of SAO) saddens me

Also Just because he is a top player doesn't mean he wouldn't be afraid; i know a lot of soldiers so i can say this from hearing their experiences that despite all the times they went out and put their life on the lines they never got truly use to it; its not a feeling you want to get use to either.

That said; a Boss who can one hit KO those who are weaker is much worse than what Kirito fought all this time in order to level up; it may take more than just one hit on him because he is so high leveled but that doesn't mean he can exchange blows like crazy like when he dual wielded against that boss and almost died.

As for the 14 year old programmer they go into that also in the ALO arc; but that said you make it sound like there aren't geniuses in the world, or heck not even geniuses you make it sound like there are specialists at young ages; if you practice something and you got talent you can do it regardless of age. Take the game Chess for example; there are old people who can play it and suck terribly, yet there are kids under 10 who are masters at it, if you don't like the chess reference i can give plenty more; the concept applies with anything, i just used Chess because in general its a complex game.

Obstinate said:

The anime took around 2 and a half episodes developing their relationship further after they became a couple. There have been a few kiss scenes, and also an implied sex scene. In the most recent episode, we see that they are even willing to carry on their relationship into the real world. You may not see it as romance, but it is there. IMO the tags should stay the same.

jBui said:

Heathcliff has an OP ability unique only to him too...UNCHECK

hyperknees91 said:


I think you forget that this guy has OP defence, which was obviously working on the boss and he seemed to be the only one who wasn't in danger. I'm pretty sure anyone who has an OP skill where it's like "dude I can't die lawl", has no reason not to be calm.

InfiniteDestiny said:


Lots of people obsess about action, its not surprising; if you like the characters in the series then the first part is essential and very enjoyable, if you dislike the characters then its viewed as a bother, well at least thats how i view why people dislike or like it accordingly.

InfiniteDestiny said:


Lots of people obsess about action, its not surprising; if you like the characters in the series then the first part is essential and very enjoyable, if you dislike the characters then its viewed as a bother, well at least thats how i view why people dislike or like it accordingly.

hyperknees91 said:

Actually the first part is kinda lame because it doesn't really accomplish anything worthwhile, neither with fleshing out the characters or with forwarding any sort of plot. So everything seems terribly 1 dimensional and just dragging things out.

Let's just say...there were better ways to go about the first part, even if it's going to be important for later (which I'm not doubting).

InfiniteDestiny said:


Well thats for Heathcliff (thats not the only reason he is calm tho...) the one i was talking to was criticizing Kirito, and Kirito doesn't have OP defense so him freaking out a bit isn't that abnormal....and its not like he even freaked out that much either, he didn't freeze up like those two who died or anything; if anything he was just shocked at the OP Boss

hyperknees91 said:


Ah, yeah it would be abnormal for Kirito not to freak out after the scene where he literally said "I'm scared of all this"

Person before you gotta remember that Kirito is Asuna obsessed now (and he's only 16), so big bad boss dude who can 1 hit KO is rough news on that.

AirStyles said:




For hyperknees91... Get a taste. Nothing is accomplish?

How about, everything is accomplished in episode 13!

It's not whether you like the character or not. If anything, these sort of episode is what makes one love a character.

Prior to this episode, I had very little love for both Kirito and Asuna. (By very little, I do mean very little)

There are some scenes in anime, that completely kills the anime.

SAO did the exact opposite with the first half of episode 13.

Not only did it address to the real world's bodies, the emotion/drive of the main characters, the evolution of side characters, the human-side of the main characters, as well as struggles of life and life in SAO itself, the fear of losing, the desire of escaping... A lot were shown.

The first half of episode 13 makes the whole show meaningful. If it weren't for episode 13, I wouldn't have been able to see Asuna and Kirito as normal human being. (Needless to say, I like them a bit more now)

hyperknees91 said:

Let's just say...there were better ways to go about the first part, even if it's going to be important for later (which I'm not doubting).

hyperknees91 said:


The first half makes Asuna a very jarring character though

You have her acting all mature and saying very nice things in the first half...then 5 minutes later saying she's going to kill herself if Kirito dies so she better take her with him like an immature brat.

The transition is just...unreal and unbelievable and also severely weakens her character.

Smileeyface said:


Again, like you said, 2 and a half episodes out of 13 means it falls under the romance genre? I don't see how that works. I think you have a misunderstanding. I'm not saying SAO doesn't have romance, i'm saying that the romance isn't enough to justify it having the 'romance' genre tag. It's just like a James Bond movie; there are hugs, kisses and love-making in between all the gun fights and espionage, but it isn't classified under the 'romance' genre.



OP ability unique to protagonist, an even more OP ability unique to antagonist, yet protagonist always prevails? CHECK

hyperknees91 said:


The first half makes Asuna a very jarring character though

You have her acting all mature and saying very nice things in the first half...then 5 minutes later saying she's going to kill herself if Kirito dies so she better take her with him like an immature brat.

The transition is just...unreal and unbelievable and also severely weakens her character.

AirStyles said:


I'll let you in on a secret.

There are literally no better way to go about the first half of the episode. And no, it's not that it'll be important for later...

No no no.... It's definitely not important for later.

The first half of episode 13 is the very essence of SAO


When a supposedly SAO fan is calling the very essence of SAO irrelevant... You know what kind of fan he/she is.



About that..... First of all, she did not display maturity, she merely state that she found salvation in Kirito... So that's point number 1 for you to think about...

Even if she did display momentary maturity... I think you're mistaking Asuna for an adult.... have you considered...

Maybe because she is a fucking teenager?
Got that?
Good

InfiniteDestiny said:


It was already explained why she was so serious, also you make it seem like all this happened in one day; she had a huge crush on him for a long long time; so if anything Asuna has been Kirito obsessed for a long time. Also its mad corny but its fair enough to say that love changes how people think, its not that unreasonable to think that she would change her outlook a little and thus how she presents herself.

hyperknees91 said:

Um yes..because all teenagers kill themselves because their romance interest dies. It's just very jarring because she seems perfectly independent otherwise but we have these random moments of extreme dependency.

Also how is telling Kirito that she would kill herself suppose to make him feel any better? Seriously he friggin apologizes after that scene to her...

if this were any other relationship you would smack asuna upside the head for even mentioning that bullcrap and not taking her life seriously enough. All this did was add unnecessary amounts of stress to Kirito and takes away her whole purpose to him (to be a strong dependable aid), which obviously she can't be because of her obsessive personality.

Blackbird said:
I actually believed the fishing part would be in the next episode after Yui, it will be too weird to just end with this SAO arc.

I want to see Suguha, she is adorable. :D

Asuna need to be saved!



Sugou = Hated

AirStyles said:
In short... I could answer the whole thing with

Running and Hiding in SAO is not an option... but... I don't think you'd figure it out yourself, so I'll put in some points...


Asuna told Kirito she'd kill herself, afterward, she talks about how "Running and Hiding is not an Option in SAO"



The key word...
"Seems" perfectly independent.

Even you can tell that she's not "Perfectly independent", merely "seemed" independent.

Her strength are merely her tantrum, they're false. Her panicking and charging into the boss room is her true face. (Think back to the first half of episode 13, the things she said...)

In short.
She's not as strong as she appear, she's just a kid believing she have to put on a strong face, and she did so and deceived even herself.



He apologizes not because she said she would kill herself, but apologizes because he didn't consider the bigger picture.
What is happening to our body?
Why we cannot stay here?
And how is the above 2 affecting Asuna?

Running away and hiding is not an option in SAO. It's the same as suiciding/giving up on life.

Think back to the old man, he gave up. He kept thinking of what's bad if he is to go back, so he decided to fish.

Kirito was about to do the exact same thing.

That is why he's apologizing



Yes, you'd smack Asuna across the face, if she stay behind and still decide to die. That would be logical,

BUT!
She's participates.
She's not staying behind.

consider the real situation, not "as it seemed".

InfiniteDestiny said:


Actually they reveal it the next episode

Big spoiler but it will prove my point


Also Just because he is a top player doesn't mean he wouldn't be afraid; i know a lot of soldiers so i can say this from hearing their experiences that despite all the times they went out and put their life on the lines they never got truly use to it; its not a feeling you want to get use to either.

That said; a Boss who can one hit KO those who are weaker is much worse than what Kirito fought all this time in order to level up; it may take more than just one hit on him because he is so high leveled but that doesn't mean he can exchange blows like crazy like when he dual wielded against that boss and almost died.

As for the 14 year old programmer they go into that also in the ALO arc; but that said you make it sound like there aren't geniuses in the world, or heck not even geniuses you make it sound like there are specialists at young ages; if you practice something and you got talent you can do it regardless of age. Take the game Chess for example; there are old people who can play it and suck terribly, yet there are kids under 10 who are masters at it, if you don't like the chess reference i can give plenty more; the concept applies with anything, i just used Chess because in general its a complex game.

hyperknees91 said:

If running and hiding is not an option...why not just press onward, why does Kirito necessarily need to be alive? Even if he dies on this boss, she could still go and proceed through the other floors. And why was running and hiding not an option when clearly.....thats what they did for the last 3-4 episodes.

Yes, here's the problem...they did not build up her dependency properly. There is no hints that something is really really wrong with her, just that she is a tad over-emotional. This is our only hint, and for what we know she could just be saying this because she is a selfish brat and it's what will get Kirito to listen to her whims.

I know why he is apologizing, but it's more of the fact that he just brushes off his suicidal girlfriend. Trust me that's not something you should just...gloss over.

You would smack her for even having the thought. If anything Asuna should have told Kirito to trust her and have faith in her, rather than being a selfish brat. I got no prob with him taking her with her, just that the method going about it..was very detrimental to her character.