Haru gets his team together for a rematch with Nomi at long last.
What They Say:
Haruyuki and Takumu set out for their final showdown with Nomi. Chiyuri wishes to join them, and they agree to let her come along.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With things progressing just a little bit more for Haru as he works to figure out how to deal with Nomi, we were treated to some moments where you really wanted to just smack Haru in the last episode. As we said before, when a girl you like starts undressing in front of you shyly and gives you the look, don’t leave the room. Don’t leave the room. That was just a small part of things though but it continues to highlight the confusion that Haru has since there’s some pining in there for Kuroyuki and he’s struggling with what has to be done with Nomi. And he certainly doesn’t want to hurt Chiyuri but there’s also a feeling that he’s trying to avoid hurting himself as well.
While there are problems to be had, they’re relatively ignored overall as Haru and Taku agree to let Chiyuri come with them in their last ditch effort to deal with Nomi and his overpowered self. It certainly makes sense considering her abilities, but she’s also one that may not handle herself well in combat and be a distraction as well, which gives at least Haru some pause. When it comes to the actual fight once they get into the virtual world, it goes pretty well at least in terms of visual and design, at times being reminiscent of an older time in anime with some of the poses and the, um, overacting that goes into things with these middle school kids.
Of course, the battle has to go through some talky moments as well, especially with Haru struggling with what he can become and the power that’s involved in the fight, sinc ehe knows what Nomi can become. And seeing how Nomi deals with it himself is interesting at times when he gets his moment to show just how crazy he’s become and disconnected from things, laughing almost all the way in simplistic villainy. There are some good bits of action as it goes on though as the two struggle against each other, Haru of course struggling more, but it’s the kind of fight that has been lead up to for awhile and you knew that Haru wasn’t going to have it easy after the other ones.
In Summary:
Accel World hits some decent points here but it is overall one that is largely focused on the action, something that it typically does well. The initial bits with Chiyuri works nicely and helps to solidify the bonds a bit more between the trio while still leaving some things uncertain between Haru and Chiyuri. When it shifts to the fight, which dominates the episode, it does a lot of things right here in giving us a no holds barred piece at times and allowing for both Haru and Nomi to struggle, yell, rage and act out as befits their age and the situation. Some of it is a little forced, and the ending isn’t too much of a surprise, but it sets things right here and moves this storyline forward at long last as it’s already felt like it’s overstayed its welcome.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Viz Media
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.
