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Dec 31, 2019 8:11 PM
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Apr 2019
4
I understand that Americans are no saint and American military is very unpopular around the world, but really? I don’t like how Americans are portrayed in most anime. If it wasn’t for American military North Korea would be invading South Korea and japan right about now.

Not to mention it was a Japanese research agency that started the project and Japanese SDF that colluded with the US military. Lisbeth’s speech was mostly characterizing Americans as dumb and evil. Needless to say the worst episode of the season so far. This anime is aimed towards a younger audience and I’d really wish that it would have been more apolitical. Watching this would just groom the younger Japanese generation to have a more negative view towards Americans.
Jan 1, 2020 2:38 PM

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Aug 2017
2357
Didn't like this episode much. Very little Alice and harem. Lots of throwing America under the bus, what's the deal with that? And fat gamer dweebs don't have hot girlfriends like shown, unrealistic. Not sure what awaits in the last ep...Kirito waking up and beating everyone as usual?

I'm also tired of the old SAO people other than maybe Sinon. It was better early in this season with Alice and her people. It's fine if Kirito stays asleep.

CarbonMDJan 1, 2020 2:44 PM
Jan 1, 2020 3:00 PM

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Nov 2011
3805
Anyone know who the purple and black female was at the End of Liz speech who had a fairy with her?

Been a while since I saw a lot of these characters.
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Feb 3, 2020 2:16 PM

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Dec 2019
147
Lisbeth's speech was amazing oml
Feb 9, 2020 8:54 PM
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Aug 2017
126
They really trying to hi us in the feels with this one, like damn!

The flashbacks! Seeing all the old characters from previous seasons! The speeches from both Yui & Liz with that music!

It makes up for the slow start at the beginning. But who the heck was that purple fairy with a pixie? I know it's not Yukki, unfortunately...🤔 I would take a wild guess that it's LLENN or Pitohui from SAO Alternative: GGO, but I doubt that.
“You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Things more important then what your hunting for, could be right there on the side of the road.”

Feb 16, 2020 12:01 AM

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Jan 2011
26681
Oh boy, exactly what I didn't want to happen is gonna happen.
Feb 19, 2020 7:56 AM

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Jul 2013
10
Yautja said:
Lelouch0202 said:
Good episode but I think I've mentioned it before, they just seem to be ignoring all real world implications in favor of making the plot seem more serious with higher stakes.

First of all, the biggest issue I have with this entire scenario is that, no military network is this unprotected, it's already pretty bullshit that the opposing soldiers were able to just walk in and access accounts like it was nothing. To add on to this, how am I expected to believe that they are just able to expose things on a private not to mention isolated military network to the public so easily? We don't even have to talk about all the issues with server infrastructure and even latency for cross continent play, not to mention the fact that this was probably a locally run simulation that should technically not be accessible to anyone outside the local network.
Where are the public gonna get the fluctlight machines unless for some reason, it's 'just compatible' with nerve gear now?

The whole Data Conversion thing was also overly plot convenient, the data is probably backed up. No one is gonna lose anything in relation to data, the only real stake they had there was about having no pain suppression. The whole thing was just for Liz to make the big emotional speech, don't get me wrong, it was great but thinking about it, she was making a big deal of a 'problem' that isn't really a 'problem'.

The real world sequences have always been the weakest aspects of the story in this season, I doubt there's anything that can be done about it at this point though. I enjoy this show but the non-underworld stuff always makes me bat an eye.

+1 to pretty much all of this. Most of the emotionally charged stuff this episode made me scoff or cringe, be it Liz's speech or the Champion's whinging. These are the kinds of things I'd laugh hysterically at if I listened to them in person. The stakes aren't realistic or well done enough to make such speeches viable. They're forced as all hell. Especially with these cliche nay sayers spouting out their unironic garbage of "you think you're better than us".

I can't say I'm privvy to the security measures of any government or military based network, and yea, all kinds of governments have had embarrassing security breaches, but I highly, highly doubt a closed network like this could be so fragrantly abused, especially when the staff are aware it's happening. Putting aside the account creation / access, normal people connecting, even with the proper accounts, seems like absolute bullshit. Hell, I know of grocery stores that require their employees to use custom VPNs to login, in tandem with their account credentials. Somehow exporting or creating the software necessary to just connect to the underworld, let alone even better, run and interact with it is top tier bullshit. Not to mention, I have to believe that there are hardware requirements that would prevent all of this. There's no way a normal gamer PC, even with all the necessary software can just connect to such a network.

Like I get back in the days of no internet, when science fiction was completely made up with effectively no basis in reality, and that some of the SAO source material is pretty old, but this is just lazy. Go to your local college, speak to professors, explore specialized forums, put in a fucking effort to actually getting some decent knowledge when writing on real things. I get that it's just an anime and LN, but come on, it's not that hard to figure out just how BS this is, and you certainly don't get to complain about it when people notice the flaws with your story when you're incorrectly incorporating the real word.


actually this series are looking good until author decided to messed them up with this plothole
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Feb 20, 2020 3:17 AM

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Aug 2016
1081
Not gonna lie, this episode was TENSE! Probably one of best SAO episodes there? Althought, hard to believe secret government/military project has standard internet connection open to whole world.
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Apr 10, 2020 10:53 PM

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Jun 2019
25
That speech reminded me of the one in log horizon with the silver sword guy, 10/10
♪ Kono Oto Tomare! ♪

Apr 14, 2020 4:19 PM

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Mar 2010
55826
Man this episode really hit the feels, And I totally agree with it all. Your reality is what you make of it. what you experience and how you felt is real. If its a game or a book. How you feel and how you lived is what is real> no matter how you die.

Then came in the enemy damn.

Behold of my awesomeness~
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But my feels.
Apr 18, 2020 4:31 AM

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Mar 2009
8123
Couldn't help but laugh at that bearded dude wearing the USA. Quite accurate. Maybe not so accurate was him having a hot blonde girlfriend.
Apr 26, 2020 8:37 PM

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Jan 2013
6844
Wait, if they all have to get to the other side how the hell did they manage to stick a pole on the other side and tie it up BEFORE getting there?

That speech was good though, definitely has some truth for our "real" world aswell

Seems like the true war is about to start!
May 6, 2020 2:06 PM
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Sep 2012
454
The guys at RATH really need to get their act together. First they leave a super account unprotected and then they don't realize the Underworld has become 1:1 until the very last second. I know drama is necessary but come on.

Not the biggest SAO fan but i did love the side characters bowing for help at the end. Well played, SAO.
Jun 3, 2020 9:39 AM

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Mar 2019
952
Underworld is going live, what a turnaround
Its just a bit weird that while ALO people seem so reticent to join it because of the obvious dangers, american people are just joining in.
I want to see the whole team in the last episode, I hope kirito will wake up
Jul 4, 2020 1:09 AM
EOussama

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Dec 2016
4855
This episode single-handedly had me discard every shred of excitement I had for the series, Alicization part 1 set up an incredibly fantastic roundup of a plot, I was very naive to think that War of Underworld would respect that and build on it, what the hell was going on in Reki's mind? Was all of this really needed? How the hell do you justify normal people joining a secret military project that operates on entirely different gear? I'm done.
Aug 10, 2020 4:45 PM

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Sep 2011
2107
What...? So they can all just connect to a simulation ran in a highly secret military base that probably has a contained network in the first place? That seems a lot of work from that hacker guy. Also now they don't need the STLs? Or is that only for the full experience?
Also, are they taking over the fluctlights, the even more protected technology inside there, or are these all suddenly newly made accounts?

I get what makes Alice special, but didn't Eugeo break that seal way before her? Or did they not notice that and by the time they did he was dead already?

Good job to the good guys on not noticing that the time difference has been brought back to 1:1. I would have thought they could at least observe these.

I did like Lisbeth's speech, and I'm happy to see her have her moment too, even if the reason they are all doing this seems a bit stupid. "We can't reveal the information cause that could backfire, so let's just instead reveal the information." Like I'm sure this won't get out of ALO as yet another disaster, and then they wonder why non-gamers think these are dangerous.
Still, at least the stakes are a bit higher again, but it feels weird that now it's not really a war of these virtual souls but that of actual players.
Sep 19, 2020 9:01 AM

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Nov 2014
850
Gabriel has backup plan with using the underworld as a beta test game for American player by setting the Underworld time into Real time so real player can join the server "real-time" using dark knight account to empower the force.

It'll be bad for Human force since they'll force to fight more troops with real human mind behind it.

good grief, beautiful speech from Liz & co. manage to persuade ALO player to join the server in cost of converting their ID/Avatar.

this getting tense..
Oct 3, 2020 11:18 AM

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Feb 2013
24142
I wouldn't risk my account for anyone.
Oct 3, 2020 11:49 AM

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Jul 2014
37
Don't you need certain technology to dive into the Underworld(The Soul Translator that Asuna and Kirito are using). How the fuck can 30,000 people just dive into that world like it's any other VRMMO? That part made no sense.
Oct 5, 2020 6:23 PM
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Jul 2016
34
Uh, this is...if I were to be brutally honest; a mess.

Yeah, Lizbeth is awesome with that speech, even though I personally think people who treat virtual world as another reality will have all the more reasons to not give it up, if only for themselves.
Well, looks like many people actually care tho.

On the other hand, it's hard to see the network, that should be like a secret military experiments easily being shared to the public (even if they didn't know). It's just too strange.
There not even a notification or something on RAFT's side. Is the US hacker that formidable or the Japanese team were too lenient??
Not to mentions how they can converted their internet data to fluctlight. Can internet transfer souls now??

This strange plot made me doubt the importance of Underworld at all. Sure the AI that can think for themselves is valuable, but to make all this experiments and only recover one entity? Pffft. Then should they start from the beginning again to get the second one? It'd make sense to continue the civilizations instead.

And Alice. I think it's a bit too much saying she's the product of every virtual realities, but uhh alright.
I feel for Eugeo tho. He was almost forgotten, eventhough he's the first one who got his eye broken. Alice maybe the first one who broke the taboo, but Eugeo was the first one who broke the seal, by killing someone no less. I'd thought he should be the priority, not Alice. Or maybe what if Eugeo is laready taken by the other side, or else how did Eldrie got his power up...


Sigh..Idk, I'm still hoping the future episodes will change my mind. I love SAO and I want to see it played out beautifully.

Let's just see how the ending will resolves this out
Oct 23, 2020 10:03 AM

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Aug 2020
370
I loved seeing all of the OG characters in this episode. Lisbeth is amazing at making speeches!!
Dec 9, 2020 2:23 PM

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Aug 2019
66
lol I was laughing my ass off at those terrible American accents.

America vs Japan huh? The dark side releases the game to the public and the good side convinces former vrmmo with actual experience to convert their accounts despite the potentially life threatening risks. Pretty fucking unrealistic if you ask me, but interesting nonetheless I guess.
Dec 9, 2020 2:24 PM

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Aug 2019
66
ignatovs said:
"excruciating pain."–"okay doesn't sound like big deal."
"you may or may not lose your video game character data."–"WHAT tEH FUCK DID YOu jSUT SA Y"
LOL was thinking the same thing
Jan 11, 2021 12:13 AM

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Sep 2017
236
Buckle up gamers! early access is here !

The Underworld bout to become a Call of Duty Lobby lol!
Dec 15, 2021 11:02 AM

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Apr 2013
36980
Started off interesting in the Underworld, but the last part was pretty boring. So now the enemy has 30.000 American noobs with generic accounts who have no idea how to play this game, how scary lol
Jan 6, 2022 9:57 PM

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Feb 2012
4194
SAO always has a habit sacrificing logic to have a cool and epic story, and this is what the War in the Underworld does it. Bringing in a whole bunch of randos from the US and Japan to fight a real but fake video game war on a secret military server is a pretty cool and epic story. Unfortunately, how we get there makes no sense. This episode introduced an absurd number of plot holes that pretty much undermines everything that has happened.

Lizbeth's speech was pure cringe for me. This could have resonated with me when I was a teenager, but I can barely watch this in my 30s. It seems pretty clear that the government is doing everything it can to help the people who suffered through SAO, so I don't really get where her persecution complex is coming from. I'm sure she could just go to a normal school and just live with the fact she is 3 years older than her classmates. I would have hated going through high school like that, but who knows about her.

The clear anti-American bias was pretty grating to me personally, but it is understandable. When a country has 50,000 military personnel on your land and can strong arm your government to do what it wants, it makes sense why people wouldn't be too happy about that. For a long while, technological advancement was one of the few things Japan could feel proud of in being clearly better than the US in certain sectors, so it makes sense it would be a focus here.

The main problem I have is that there is nothing to distinguish between the US and Japan beyond nationality. Kirito's crew knows that Rath was planning to use Alice to make weapons and even abducted their friend to unwillingly help in that. They were clearly bad guys when Alicalization started. Now when the US steps in to do the exact thing Rath is doing, it is somehow bad because the US won't use Alice as a demonstration for a few years before turning her into a weapon.
Aug 19, 2022 7:26 AM

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Mar 2020
386
I think I need the tutorial for "how to create a video game (PVP with massacre :3) complete with custom GUI, custom launcher, redundancy server (yes, you have to manage 30 000 to 100 000 players), of course using a very nice game engine called the seed in about 10 hours! xD
Nov 13, 2022 3:19 PM

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Mar 2019
3770
It took some time for me to put my disappointment away. It's funny how the episode right after I said "hopefully the next 2 episodes are just as good" became the worst.

It started off great with that flashback and everyone getting to their positions. Then out of nowhere they used horses??? Iskahn's anger was very childish. You don't get to say that, when your army was 10 times larger than the human empire army, lol. And even then, yes, cutting the ropes, as sad as it is so see all his friends dying without fighting, is war.

Everything was alright until then, except those out of nowhere horses, but then it started. From somehow making the Underworld public when Kikuoka just told Asuna that the power is very limited and having all Americans just join in, destroying all the stakes, to Liz just making a very random and honestly bad speech, making bad points and just mentioning some things that were never what SAO was about and then finishing with a very cliche type of saying. And not just her, the crowd in ALO was just as random. Especially the SAO survivors part.

Why did all this happen, why couldn't you just not include these 2 parties? The war has been amazing up until now, there was no need for this, you don't need to include the ALO group like it happened in Ordinal Scale just for those irrelevant characters to appear in this arc.

At this point I'm not expecting the last episode to be able to save this, but let's see how it ends.
Come on man,where is that Noragami season 3 masterpiece.We want it, Bones!

Jan 3, 2023 8:31 PM

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May 2022
307
Rytakahashi09 said:
The bloody long speech is cringe and boring
You are seriously missing the point entirely. Lisbeth's speech was actually emotional and inspiring. The theme of SAO is about the bonds you make in a virtual world, the memories, emotions, everything you do there, it is real and it matters. Pay better attention and try to think a little before dismissing something as "cringe" or "boring."
Jan 3, 2023 9:01 PM

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May 2022
307
This was actually an inspiring and emotional episode, despite the usual comments from people calling Lisbeth's speech "boring" or "pointless." The Seed's purpose is the birth of Alice, thanks to the memories, emotions, and bonds among others across virtual worlds. Lisbeth's speech was amazing and moving, she wants to protect the souls and emotions of the people of the Underworld despite the risks of character conversion. Lisbeth's flashbacks to Aincrad and ALO helped showcase the importance of human relationships and bonds in the virtual world are just as important and meaningful. The emotions and memories are real, no matter if its the real or virtual world. Lisbeth's explanation about how SAO survivors also have a hard time recovering and experience their own struggles was really moving. Abandoning a virtual world is like abandoning the memories, bonds, emotions, literally everything that you did in that world.

Things aren't looking so good in the Underworld, Critter changed the FLA rate and created a public beta test, putting people into the enemy forces. Thankfully, Sinon and Leafa are on their way to help Asuna take on the huge number of players from the real world. The war is real and Iskhan is frustrated because he doesn't want to see his group die in vain, he wants to fulfill the goal of invading the Human Empire, not to get the Priestess of Light, which is Gabriel's goal, this is intense.
AwesomeAli2832Jan 3, 2023 9:20 PM
Jan 20, 2023 12:02 PM
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Nov 2010
6129
I'm glad Quinella is still getting screen time. She looks lovely as always!
6:06 Yep, there's no such thing as honor in war. I almost felt bad for them, but I realized they would've mercilessly killed the Human Empire troops and citizens given the chance.
It's gonna become a USA-Japan war part 2 in STL. However, that plot development doesn't make sense. I thought there was only one way to get into STL, and supposedly what happens in STL stays in STL.
Feb 6, 2023 12:02 AM

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Jul 2015
9999
Not sure what to think of bringing in all those real world people into Underworld but still nice of everyone to wake up early and login to listen to Liz speech.

Apr 9, 2023 7:19 AM
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Mar 2017
10
All the old characters are back
May 28, 2023 12:45 AM
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Dec 2020
1
They almost had a full good season... Why must they ruin it?
Dec 16, 2023 6:19 PM
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Jul 2018
564088
Wel gahhdamn this is something else
Dec 17, 2023 11:57 PM

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Dec 2019
988
Well... they sure derailed the whole plot out of a sudden. How is it possible for all these people to connect to this? How is the AmuSphere even able to replicate this world? I thought they needed the STL for people to be a part of this world, this makes little sense.
Pretend there's something flashy and cool here.
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