The defeat of the boss is just the beginning. The beginning of the end…
What They Say:
“The End of the World”
Game over.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After marathoning the series, there’s definitely a bit of hesitancy on my part in doing the weekly grind for the second half, but the show completely won me over with the first thirteen episodes. Going into this one, we get the big boss fight that’s needed to clear the floor an advance after so much loss among the group that went to deal with it. It’s not a long fight here, having seen Asuna and Kirito really go at it and figure out the right tactic to dole out some damage, so the clearing is relatively painless at this point. But that’s not to say there isn’t real pain to be had after what had happened in the previous episode as the boss was definitely highly difficult to defeat with how it slinked down from the ceiling and just cut through a lot of them quickly and brutally.
The realization afterwards with how difficult it was really does set in as those that survived understand that there’s another twenty-five floors to go and this was a really, really tough one to clear. And it’s only going to get worse as it goes on. Interestingly, a little tweak comes into play that changes the dynamic as Kirito realizes that the Knight’s commander has something different about him and attacks, revealing that he’s actually an “immortal object,” something we’ve seen before. That opens up a slew of potentials for what it can do from here, but it goes in an unexpected direction when he reveals himself to be Kayaba after Kirito makes the educated guess about it. A game changer to be sure as he makes it clear that he’d be the final boss. Kirito’s heavy game knowledge does make it obvious to him though, which admittedly works nicely in seeing him make that kind of leap of logic.
This leads to Kayaba offering Kirito the right to challenge him now, removing his status, so as to be able to end the game early. That comes from confidence to be sure and it makes for an engaging match as you wonder how it will go, even though certain elements such as Asuna’s actions are obviously a given. It’s what happens after the match ends that’s really fascinating to watch as the two young lovers are reunited, the world begins to fall apart and the real Kayaba comes into play to talk about what’s going on. It brings this first game to a close, matching up well to the ending of the first novel from what I can find, making for a poignant piece. In a way, it may feel a little rushed considering you could see the whole season dealing with this lengthy trudge through the hundred levels, but there’s also that bit of knowledge where sometimes missions are cut short to bring things to a close quicker than you might have otherwise.
In Summary:
Action, reveals and exposition marks the layout of the episode that brings the first novel’s worth of material to a close. The final minutes, dealing with just Asuna and Kirito, is done very well with some good emotion that befits their ages and experiences and what they’ve gone through. The bonds that can be made in games, from text to these kinds of virtual reality ones, cannot be denied and I can say that from personal experience. Giving us a look through this world for some two years of experiences for Kiritio and the others is amazingly engaging and seeing it all come together at the end, sooner than we thought it would, really drives home just how powerful it really is and leaves me eager for more. More of everything. Sword Art Online has definitely won me over hard with how it’s adapted the first of the light novels.
Grade: A-
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.
