Kirito must venture into the game world again, but there’s a certain sense of fun infused in this version.
What They Say:
A new MMO allows users to fly and encourages player killing. Kirito has joined this new game in search of Asuna and is pleasantly surprised with what he finds.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the events that have transpired in the series so far, what with it ending the Sword Art Online game just after the halfway mark of the season, it definitely leaves you wondering just what it is that it would do. The previous episode served very well as a transitional bridge piece in which we see the real world fallout from Sword-Art-Online as well as what happened to Asuna and how Kirito has dealt with it. It felt like it worked really well, especially when we had the threat of what’s to come for her from Sugou and how he intends to use her to gain power and then the almost secretive hint given to Kirito that Asuna may be trapped inside this new game, Alfheim Online. It’s hard to imagine him wanting to go into that kind of connective world again so soon, but what better incentive than the woman he married before?
Alfheim Online is rather different from Sword-Art-Online in that it’s not level based but rather a simply large world where nine races reside and people grow by their skill levels as opposed to traditional leveling. Even more interesting is that there’s an almost fairy-like aspect to the game in its character designs but also because the players get to fly, but there are quirks to it. The difficulty comes in growing that ability since it uses an upgraded version of the NerveGear, one with better security so that the incident from before doesn’t happen again. It also focuses heavily on player killing through skill growth, so it’s the kind of world that on one hand has a lot of real beauty to it because of the flight but also has a heck of a lot of dangers. But with a hint of Asuna found from one mission that some players went on in his hand, teasing her being part of a world above that the rest are trying to get to, the motivation is all there.
Kirito’s re-entry into the game world does not go smoothly though as it feels like a bug hits right away, throwing him nowhere near the town he was supposed to get into and into a field instead. Amusingly, he does check to see if the logout button is there and you can’t help but to grin. Strangely though, all his stats are weird and feels like they’re tied to his SAO time. But his item list is filled with question marks, except for one item that, surprisingly, brings Yui into this game all of a sudden. Adding this blast from the past, a bug herself, opens the show up to some intriguing possibilities. Discovering that Alfheim is essentially a reworked copy of SAO certainly makes sense, but realizing that his character from SAO was copied over to here speak of something very different going on. The loss of weapons is one thing easily dealt with, but the fact all his skills are retained is surprising yet incredibly helpful.
While the show focuses heavily on Kirito, with a good bit showing him how flight works in this world, we do get a look at a few other characters that come into play. Giving us an action sequence as well, we see a pair of characters, Leafa and Recon, tryign to escape some heavily armored knights. It’s an instructive piece to show combat in general int his world and how flight works with it, but also reminds that player death here isn’t what we were so used to for so long since it doesn’t result in real world death. That’s a little weird to get used to after the serious impact of it for so long. Of course, it’s a fight that you know that Kirito will get involved in and it’s comical to see him flounder into it yet have ultimate skill based on his SAO time when going against them, making for short work.
In Summary:
Sword Art Online moves easily into the realm of Alfheim Online here and a lot of the similarities are explained away easily enough and in a way that really does make sense. With its heavy focus on Kirito, we get a good look at some of the basics of the world, how flight works and a wonderful little helper in Yui returning to the series. The show also does deal lightly with the kind of emotions and feelings that Kirito must have in putting the gear on again and going into another game world. It’s just a few little nods here and there, but they’re done just right and not over dramatized or made more of than need be. With Kirito in this to bring the woman he loves back to the real world before she’s married off, his reasoning all makes sense and the end goals leave you hopeful as there’s noble intent here.
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.
