The fallout from the reveal figures heavy here, at least until the fighting starts.
What They Say:
Even though a wall has been built between Kirito and Sugu, he must save Asuna. The next time he challenges the final dungeon he won’t be alone.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the reveal in the previous episode that Sugu didn’t know Kirito was her brother/cousin, it threw things off for me for a good bit as I had thought that was something that she already knew. The fallout from it is pretty bad as she was starting to fall for him thinking she was getting away at last from her brother, but to have that thrown back at her, unknowingly on both their parts, definitely has an impact. Even more so because she knows just how much her brother is in love with Asuna and the lengths he’s going to try and free her from the trap that she’s in now. Though it’s a little forced in some ways, the end result is one that has a really intriguing situation that has to be dealt with as best as possible since so much must still be done.
Though these issues are here, the two are still going to work together in the game since there is so much at stake. The difficulty for Sugu is definitely there, but she also knows the pain that Kirito has been going through on both sides of it, much as we see some time where Kirito intended to make up for lost time after his two years in SAO and the feeling of disconnect he had for all the years in living in that household. Carrying that weight, the two of them are still the type to do what’s right and what needs to be done, though we get a little humor when Leafa returns to the game and ends up dealing with a very lusty Recon who has managed to turn up again after beign away for quite a few episodes.
With things settled between Kirito and Leafa, they bring together what they need with Recon and Yui and make their plans to attack the World Tree as Kirito needs to reach Asuna more than anything else in his life. Having seen what they were up against before, working as a team does help some as there’s more teamwork and a better understanding of what the guardians are like. The battle that unfolds is pretty decent, filled with some good sacrifices, but also the inclusion of quite a few other characters. It makes sense based on the stories so far, but it lacks the kind of real resonance we got in the first half of the series due to the shorter time span here. But as makes sense, Kirito is one that is generally alone but draws great numbers and strength through others and it’s no exception here in Alfheim Online as well.
In Summary:
As this series goes, we get some good little cliffhangers along the way. This one delivers another one as progress is made and then some of them are simply thrust elsewhere, which we won’t find out about until next week. The bulk of this episode revolves around the fight up through the World Tree and it plays up some familiar things that makes sense based on Kirito’s time in the game and what he’s accomplished so far. The show is pretty strong in these area even if it all comes together a little too easily, but it makes for a good fight sequence without overdoing it so it can move to the next phase. Between this and the time spent on at least working through some of the issues between Kirito and Sugu, we have an episode that deals with what’s needed in a good and fun way and sets us up for what’s to come next.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
