Kindred Spirits
What They Say:
A man in a beat-up cloak watches Kirito fight his first battle and demands to know if he’s “the real thing”. The man has the tattoo of Laughing Coffin, a murderer’s guild that existed within SAO. He tells Kirito that he’ll kill him someday, and vanishes.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode felt like it was really short. It wasn’t any shorter than usual, it just felt that way. Part of the reason is a flashback to some events in Sword Art Online, where Kirito remembers a fairly brutal fight where he had to dispatch two members of Laughing Coffin. Kirito killed two members of the PK guild in that fight, and killed another later during his time in SAO. It was never a real focus of Kirito’s character, but after his encounter with Death Gun it’s clear Kirito has a small amount of PTSD related to having to kill players in SAO (which, if you don’t recall, the rules of Sword Art Online were such that if you died in the game and it hadn’t been beaten yet, you died in real life. It’s one of the reasons that PK players and guilds like Laughing Coffin were consider so despicable).
Kirito manages to make it through his elimination rounds to the finals vs. Sinon, dealing with his stress and fears the only way he knows how. The confrontation between him and Sinon is a bit tense, but in talking, the two find that they’re much more similar than different. Even though neither comes out and says it, Sinon sees a bit of herself in Kirito and vice versa – both have killed people, and both have to live with the weight of those deaths on their shoulders.
When you feel like you’re alone, finding someone just like you can make all the difference in the world.
In Summary:
I think this episode does a good job of taking Kirito down a notch (he’s still an incredible fighter, but he’s not in perfect mental condition following the traumatic events in the first series). What’s frustrating (if that’s even the right word for it) is that Kirito seems pretty fine all the way through ALO in the second half of Sword Art Online, and we don’t really see him having these thoughts in the back of his mind. He seems like he’s alright, and he fights through to eventually rescue Asuna. But, the events of being trapped in SAO are pretty traumatic, and it feels just a bit off to see Kirito dealing with some of these feelings and consequences now, in his third MMO of the series, instead of when they first happened.
It’s a decent attempt to call back to the first series, but it feels a bit off. Despite that though, the connection he and Sinon makes feels pretty good – Kirito has learned to live with his burdens, and Sinon wants to learn how to do that from him. They’re both advancing into the BoB tournament, and we’ll probably see the friendship continue to develop as the episodes roll on.
I think that’s all really great, and look forward to seeing it unfold as the season goes on. My biggest concern is that Sinon will fall for Kirito and it will feel a lot more like the Kirito’s-Harem-Show then I really would like. Sinon as a character can stand on her own, and I’d much rather her find herself and overcome her past without also developing feelings for Kirito outside of friendship.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Intel Alienware laptop, Windows 7, 25” HP2509m screen at 1920×1080 resolution